Core competence

Core Competencies. These are sets of skills and capabiUties that are difficult to dupHcate and have the potential to create entirely new businesses. Technical competencies often refer to sets of key technologies and the kinds of learning embedded in the organization and its people, the competency carriers. 

Eastman Kodak has identified 10 core competencies and developed a process for their management and utilization within the company (29). Similarly, Eaton Corporation selected seven core technical competencies, ranked them in importance, assessed their importance vs the known state-of-the-art for the industry, and developed action plans to extend the life of each (30). Eaton subsequently found the company could bring to market products designed with proven building blocks, thus minimizing risk and the need for additional capital equipment. In addition, the competencies were found to be reservoirs of proprietary advantage that had not previously been put to work. 

The proliferation of sophisticated instruments which are capable of rapidly producing vast amounts of data, coupled with the virtually universal availability of powerful but inexpensive computers, has caused the field of chemometrics to evolve from an esoteric specialty at the perhiphery of Analytical Chemistry to a required core competency. 

In the world today there is there is a clear trend in almost every market sector for companies and organizations to focus their activities on enhancing core-competencies and build national or global market brands to advance their respective market leadership positions. As a result, many noncore activities are often subcontracted to a service company rather than being undertaken by the organization s own employees. 

Safely conducting chemical reactions is a core competency of the chemical manufacturing industry. However, chemical reactions can rapidly release large quantities of heat, energy, and gaseous byproducts. 

Lei, D., Hitt, M. A., Bettis, R. 1996. Dynamic core competences through meta-learning and strategic context. Journal of Management, 22(4) 549-569. 

An example in point is Johnson Matthey, the world s largest supplier of opiates. The products are obtained by plant extraction, which is the company s core competence. JM acquired the chemical CRO PharmEco with the intent to offer a one-stop shop capability. As PharmEco was primarily involved in synthetic chemistry, it is difficult to come across a synergy between the small- and the large-scale business. 

Automobiltechnik Blau s core competence is the forming of metal parts. Main products are filling systems like caps of fuel tanks and oil tanks. Their... 

Is the application of chemicals a core competence of these enterprises YES NO X ... 

Motives for the introduction of the new business model Influence on the application of the procedural plant which increases live expectancy pressure on the market. The user does not need expert knowledge anymore and can concentrate on its core competence. ... 

VOCs are the only chemicals the SME applies in larger quantities so that the application of the chemicals is not part of the user s core competencies. As the cleaning process has minor importance in the overall production process of the SME, the costs for the company to conduct research and development regarding the risks and efficient application of the chemicals are disproportionately high and the producer is probably the only source of information for the user. 

Usually this is not a core competence of the user, therefore, the service offered comprises a (more or less important) process which could be inte-... 

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