The competitive advantage model is sustainable for Zipcar, because the company has created a model that is complex and difficult for other companies to emulate. Rental car companies such as Avis, Budget and Enterprise would be unable to switch to Zipcar’s model due to their old existing traditional infrastructure. Zipcar’s model provides multiple benefits to the customers, such as pay per hour, paperless renting process etc. Zipcar also has good business strategy. For example, Zipcar is targeting college students as their new customer base, a population that car rental companies have largely ignored because of liability concerns. Zipcar’s idea is to gain early adopters who will continue using the service when they graduate which I think is good mixture of information technology and innovative business technique.

Groupon on the other hand, is a company which sells internet coupons for events, services and popular events. In my perspective, Groupon’s model is not sustainable and can be easily copied by new companies. In addition to that, Groupon’s business model does not add value to retailers. For example, large number of retailers found Groupon deals unprofitable as one of the local business owner lost $8,000 on their Groupon promotion when too many coupons were issued. (P.G. 71 Groupon Case study ). Further, there are no barriers for entry to stop competitors. As hundreds of competitors have already entered into the market, as a result Groupon had to hire thousands of additional employees to provide quality service and provide service better than other companies. This again, reduces revenue as they have to pay wages to their large employee base. In its first earnings release as a public company, Groupon reported 2011 fourth- quarter loss of $9.8 million, disappointing investors.