BUILDING COMPETENCIES

Researchers have identified the management challenge for the firm to outpace its competitors by speeding up organizational learning and imagining strategy as a continuous and long race that is run in sprints. This is achieved through management’s ability to build core competencies faster to underpin new products and the necessity to consolidate resources and competencies to adapt quickly to changing conditions. The priority for management is to build organizational skills and capabilities that can create superior products. Top management should add value by building a strategic architectural road map and defining priorities for competency building and by ensuring proper allocation of competencies between business units.

The strategic architecture is the framework and guide to establish milestones for acquisition and development of competencies. A core competence is a bundle of skills and technologies enabling the company to provide a particular, fundamental benefit to customers and it should be able to make a long-term contribution to strategic plans. This criterion will be met by competencies that contribute disproportionately to customer value, represent competitive uniqueness and that can be extended to new product areas.