A firms two most important resources are its core competencies and its strategic assets

Resources and Capabilities are the sources of competitive advantage and the primary source of profitability for any firm. Resources and capabilities empower a company to drive the business and face competition with their products & offerings for the need of customers.

Importance of Resources and Capabilities

Resources and organizational capabilities play an important role in business. They can be explained as:

A) Resources can be divided into:

1. Tangible – Physical and financial assets. Eg: Machinery, offices, warehouses

2. Intangible – Skills, reputation and brand names. Eg: Whatsapp, Disney

3. Human Resources – Skilled Employees

B) Organizational capabilities:

They refer to the business routines, processes and the organizational culture. Identification of core competencies or capabilities can be useful in identifying what contributes more to customer value and which market segments to target. A firm must analyse which resources and capabilities are most important in providing a sustainable competitive advantage to the firm. It should also identify its strengths and weaknesses with respect to its competitors. The firm must ensure that all resources and capabilities are fully employed and exploited. It must focus on regenerating valuable resources and building competencies. In a rapidly changing external environment a focus on internal resources and capabilities is more secure than market focus.

Hence, this concludes the definition of Resources and Capabilities along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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Core competencies are the resources and capabilities that comprise the strategic advantages of a business. A modern management theory argues that a business must define, cultivate, and exploit its core competencies in order to succeed against the competition.

A variation of the principle that has emerged in recent years recommends that job seekers focus on their personal core competencies in order to stand out from the crowd. These positive characteristics may be developed and listed on a resume. Some personal core competencies include analytical abilities, creative thinking, and problem resolution skills.

• Core competencies are the defining characteristics that make a business or an individual stand out from the competition.
• Identifying and exploiting core competencies is seen as important for a new business making its mark or an established company trying to stay competitive.
• A company's people, physical assets, patents, brand equity, and capital can all make a contribution to a company's core competencies.
• The idea of core competencies was first proposed in the 1990s as a new way to judge business managers compared to how they were judged in the 1980s.
• Examples of companies that have core competencies that have allowed them to remain successful for decades include McDonald's, Apple, and Walmart.

A successful business has identified what it can do better than anyone else, and why. Its core competencies are the "why." Core competencies are also known as core capabilities or distinctive competencies. Core competencies lead to competitive advantages.

Core competency is a relatively new management theory that originated in a 1990 Harvard Business Review article, “The Core Competence of the Corporation.”

In the article, C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel review three conditions a business activity must meet in order to be a core competency:

• The activity must provide superior value or benefits to the consumer.
• It should be difficult for a competitor to replicate or imitate it.
• It should be rare.

The article pointed out the contrast of how businesses operated in the 1980s versus how they should operate in the 1990s. The article asserted that in the 80s, business managers were "judged on their ability to restructure, declutter, and delayer their corporations. In the 1990s, they'll be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate, and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible."

The core competencies that distinguish a business vary by industry. A hospital or clinic may focus on excellence in particular specializations. A manufacturer may identify superior quality control.

A variety of resources, such as talent pool, physical assets, patents, and brand equity, make a contribution to a company's core competencies. Once it understands those competencies, the company can properly focus all of those resources. It may even outsource activities that are outside its core competencies in order to devote its resources to what it does best.

The business should use its core competencies in every facet of its operations, from advertising to growth strategies, to sponsorship, to its reputation. The advantage will be that these core competencies will lead to longevity for a firm.

Even if a firm comes out with a unique product, if it is easy to replicate, once the patent expires, it will find itself with numerous competitors in the market eating away at its once-dominant market share.

To prevent this, a company will have to rely on other core competencies, such as customer service, quality control, advertising, and innovation to stay ahead of the new entrants in the market.

A business is not limited to just one core competency, and competencies vary based on the industry in which the institution operates.

Some of the core competencies of established and successful brands tend to be there for all to see:

• McDonald's has standardization. It serves nine million pounds of French fries every day, and every one of them has precisely the same taste and texture.
• Apple has style. The beauty of its devices and their interfaces gives them an edge over its many competitors.
• Walmart has buying power. The sheer size of its buying operation gives it the ability to buy cheap and undersell retail competitors.

For any organization, its core competency refers to the capabilities, knowledge, skills and resources that constitute its "defining strength." A company's core competency is distinct, and therefore not easily replicated by other organizations, whether they're existing competitors or new entrants into its market.

An organization's core competencies -- sometimes called core capabilities or distinctive competencies -- explain what it can do better than any other company, and why. These capabilities provide a strong foundation from which the business will deliver value to customers and stakeholders, seize new opportunities and grow. They set the company apart from its peers and help create a sustained competitive advantage in its industry or sector.

A company can have one or more organization-wide core competencies, such as the following:

Each competency is a positive characteristic that contributes to the company's unique positioning. Having and using them matters because they can make it quite difficult for competitors to exactly duplicate the company's offerings or replicate its success. This is why identifying core competencies is a crucial step in strategic planning.

Which core competencies matter most varies by industry. A company's ability to stand out in those competencies, and ideally uniquely combine them with other competencies, can give it competitive advantage over its industry peers.

For example, Southwest Airlines built and still has a strong position in the competitive airline industry by focusing on its core competencies. As detailed in Mukund Srinivasan's airline industry blog post, those competencies are keeping operational costs low (largely but not entirely through route efficiency), delivering award-winning customer service and creating a fun work culture that promotes employee loyalty.

Many of the world's largest and most successful companies (see more real-world examples below) got there through similar focus on their core competencies.

Evolution of the idea of core competency

The concept of core competency is widely accepted today. But contrary to popular belief, it's not an old idea. It was first proposed in 1990 in the HBR article "The Core Competence of the Corporation" by C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel. In this classic, influential piece, the authors suggest a company's core competence is the "most powerful way to prevail" in global commerce and "adapt quickly to changing opportunities."

Evaluating business managers and leaders based on their ability to "identify, cultivate, and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible" quickly became prominent. In the 1980s, the focus was on streamlining, restructuring and decluttering organizations. According to Prahalad and Hamel, successful enterprises viewed themselves as "a portfolio of competencies versus a portfolio of businesses."

This approach encouraged business leaders to rethink the concept of the corporation itself. The authors also noted that a core competence encompasses collective learning, technology integration, communication, leadership and a commitment to working across the organization's boundaries.

In recent years, a variation on core competence has emerged, with the focus on individuals. This idea suggests that job seekers should develop their personal core competencies or specific abilities to stand out in the job market.

These include the following:

• analytical abilities
• communication skills
• digital literacy
• problem-solving
• decision-making
• interpersonal/relationship-building skills
• cultural competency
• business acumen

3 key characteristics of a core competency

Prahalad and Hamel, in that HBR article, list the following three primary conditions a business activity must satisfy to be considered a core competency:

• It must provide superior value (e.g., benefits) to the customer or consumer.
• It should provide potential access to a wide variety of markets.
• It should not be easy to replicate or imitate.

The authors cite Honda to illustrate the concept. According to them, Honda's core competencies in engines and power trains enabled the company to deliver superior benefits to its customers. These capabilities gave Honda competitive advantages in the car, motorcycle, lawn mower and generator businesses. At the time, no other company could match Honda's unique and powerful capabilities.

Sources of core competencies

Contributions to a company's core competencies can come from its:

• people
• capital
• brand equity
• assets
• intellectual property

For long-term growth and success, it's important for an organization to develop and nurture all these elements. It should consistently invest its resources on building and maintaining the skills that contribute to its core competencies. It must identify and isolate its best abilities that can provide a competitive advantage -- as Southwest Airlines did with operational costs -- and then develop them into organization-wide strengths.

Furthermore, the company's development strategy should focus on developing these skills and strengths in ways that are unique from competitors and deliver enhanced value to customers -- as Southwest did with superior service and a fun work culture.

To focus resources on core competencies and strengthen their competitive position, companies can outsource or divest areas that fall outside their primary expertise. Such streamlining was in focus, as Prahalad and Hamel pointed out, in the 1980s; it remains relevant today.

More real-world examples of core competencies

Three of the best examples of companies that have enjoyed sustained success by focusing on their core companies are the following:

McDonald's best core competence is its ability to standardize its food service and delivery processes. Every McDonald's offering tastes and looks exactly the same, regardless of its geographical location or outlet -- after accounting for local tastes and exceptions. Since customers always know what they will get when they order a Big Mac or Chicken McNuggets, they trust the brand. That trust continues to drive McDonald's success.

Apple has a unique ability to design and produce electronic devices that appeal to consumers' esthetic sensibilities and material aspirations, such as the iPhone, iMac and iPad. Each product boasts attractive visual esthetics and tactile appeal that have allowed Apple to achieve the status of the world's most valuable company in current market capitalization.

Walmart has the buying power that even its closest competitors cannot match. The company's massive supply chain operations allow it to buy products in bulk and at low rates, and then undersell its competitors to attract and retain more customers.

Every business must aim to maximize its core competencies in every area of operations, including advertising or reputation management, marketing or human resource management, sponsorship and strategic management. This holistic approach will empower a company to pursue long-term growth and success. In addition, it must develop more than one competency to maintain and improve its competitiveness and unique market position.