The social media industry infers to computer-based technologies that facilitate the sharing of information, ideas, and thoughts through virtual communities and networks. Social media uses the internet to give users fast electronic dissemination of content, for instance, photos, personal information, videos, and documents. The commonly used social media platforms worldwide include Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube, Twitter, Clubhouse, and Instagram. A VRIO (value, rareness, imitability, organization) analysis will be conducted on Facebook and Twitter to highlight distinctive and core competencies while responding to four queries of the VRIO framework.
San Francisco, California, serves as the home location for Twitter, Inc., an American communications firm. Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service run by the corporation (Murthy, 2018). Users can post and engage with messages known as “tweets” on microblogging and social networking site. On the other hand, Facebook is an online social media and social networking service operated by the American business Meta Platforms. In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg and several Harvard College students founded the company. Users can establish a profile after registering that contains information about them. They can exchange text, pictures, and other types of media with other users who have accepted to be their “friends.”
The determination of organizational competencies is crucial for the sustenance of its operations. Organizational competencies fall under two distinct categories, which entail the core competencies and the distinctive competencies. According to Ariyani and Daryanto (2018), the value-rarity-imitability-organization (VRIO) technique has gained widespread support for determining if a firm’s resources match the requirements for long-term competitive advantage. This tool enables the analysis of an organization’s core and distinctive competencies and determines the competitive advantages of the organization over its rival.
In chapter 5 of Strategic Management and Business Policy, Barney outlines that, the three companies have customer-value and competitive-advantage resources. Facebook has 2 billion monthly active users, making it a popular social network, Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users, mostly young people and Twitter has 330 million active users every month and is a popular news source (Wheelen, Hunger, Hoffman, & Bamford, 2017). Secondly, the companies also have rare resources with a large user base. For instance, Facebook has proprietary data which is a tough a platform, Instagram has a proprietary algorithm, and a mobile-first approach while Twitter has a real-time info which are all hard-to-replicate platforms. On the other hand, the companies have hard-to-copy resources such as proprietary algorithm, mobile first approach and real-time info respectively hence making them immune to imitation. Finally, companies are organized and they exploit their resources. Facebook, Instagram and twitter have engineering teams that improve the platform by employing sales team, that promote the companies respectively.
Core competencies are the assets and skills that are prevalent in an organization and that which it does incredibly well. It is crucial for a new company to make a name for itself or an existing corporation trying to remain competitive to recognize and capitalize on its key skills (Albarqouni et al., 2018). Being quick, free, and enjoyable, combining profit with purpose, gaining people’s confidence, and making information simple are some of twitter’s core competencies. To achieve its core vision of connecting the world, Facebook encompasses many core values. The ability to quickly iterate and add new features is one of Facebook’s key strengths. Other core competencies in Facebook include rapid adaptation to changing trends, employee autonomy, and emphasis on impact.
A distinctive competency is better quality, strength, or attribute that sets a corporation apart from its rivals. A business can offer top value to clients through distinctive competency (Lin & Lai, 2021). It is challenging for competitors to copy this distinctive feature of the business, product, or service, giving it a significant competitive edge (Wheelen et al., 2017). Companies can, thanks to their distinctive strengths, boost their competitive advantage, boost consumer gratification and loyalty, differentiate themselves from rivals, and be challenged to copy and bolster their plans effectively. Twitter’s distinctive competence has been achieved through mergers and acquisitions. Business tycoon Elon Musk made a $43 billion offer to buy Twitter, Inc. on April 14, 2022 (Palacios-Marqués et al., 2019). He had initially purchased large stocks in the company making him the biggest shareholder. Through the acquisition, Twitter is likely to be a more outstanding player in the social media industry, enjoying a certain degree of stability as opposed to rival companies.
In quest of realization of its mission of connecting the world, Facebook also has definitive competencies that enable the company to stand out. Facebook’s capacity for rapid feature addition is one of its fundamental competencies. Facebook has added numerous new products and features to the site in recent years, including timeline stories, photo editing filters, and the removal of trending topics (Chen & Chen, 2021). Facebook is quite knowledgeable about networking and society. As its networking site offers more alternatives and capabilities than its rivals, Facebook uses this competitive advantage to build distinct competency. The core competence of Instagram is that it allows users to share photos and videos. The company’s technology is difficult to imitate, and its platform provides value to users that other platforms do not. It is also well-organized to exploit its resources and capabilities. The company’s distinctive competence is its ability to connect people with each other through its platform. Instagram has a strong competitive advantage in the social media platform industry.
In conclusion, the evaluation of both the core and distinctive competencies of an organization constitutes a vital exercise that determines the organization’s success. Despite the fact that both Facebook and Twitter are firms in the social media industry, the firms have stood out to be key players amidst stiff competition. Investing in the right technology to cope with dynamic trends, believing in employees, and fast inventions have been the catalyst for the success of Facebook. On the other hand, Twitter’s acquisition by business mogul Elon Musk coupled with the pre-existing factors of being fast and straightforward and combining profit and purpose, have contributed to the success of the platform. Establishing a unique competence of the organization results in more profit yields and longevity of the firm’s operations against the rivals. In this way, the firm can thrive amidst rivals still accruing gains.
References
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