Core Competences and Competitive Advantage 20 分

Core Competencies are the high ability in acquiring rare resources and distinctive capability, if both are failed to be imitated or copied by rivals in the industry. Core competency is a central set of knowledge in a company that when applied allows the company to create superior value relative to competitors and deliver it to customers that they are being delighted. Superior value of product and service can be created is due to the company’s remarkable performance such as superior innovation (likes 3M & Sharp), superior responsiveness (likes FedEx & Seven Eleven), superior quality (likes Toyota & GE) and superior efficiency (likes Wal-Mart & Dell)
The outcomes of the four superiors are therefore could be extremely low cost while extremely differentiated product and service in offering

The agenda of Core Competence varies in the four situations as follow according to G Hamel & CK Prahalad Competing for the Future, HBR Press Boston 1994, and p.227:
(1) Fill-In-The-Blanks, if a company can apply its Existing Core Competence for the Existing Product or Service Market, then continuous improving business position and opportunity against the rivals that superior efficiency( and low cost) can be realized
(2) Premier Plus-10 (Years), if a company can apply its New Core Competence for the Existing Product or Service Market, then it can be building, protecting and extending its franchise in current markets and might be lasting for 10 years, that it will be always the market leader of innovation
(3) White Spaces, if a company can apply its Existing Core Competence for the New Product or Service Market ten it can be redeploying or recombining its core competence for the untapped product or markets—highly differentiated
(4) Mega-opportunities, if a company can apply its New Core Competence for the New Product and Service Market, then it can be the long term market leader such as Viagra—with this disruptive technology is able to monopolize the market. Image transfer and increase product service credibility. But there are just too many brands using too many celebrities. Here is one example :

http://thinknolimit.blogspot.com/2006/11/modern-fitness.html

A core competency is something that a firm can do well and that meets the following three conditions specified by Hamel and Prahalad (1990):

It provides customer benefits
It is hard for competitors to imitate
It can be leveraged widely to many products and markets.
A core competency can take various forms, including technical/subject matter know how, a reliable process, and/or close relationships with customers and suppliers (Mascarenhas et al. 1998). It may also include product development or culture such as employee dedication. Modern business theories suggest that most activities that are not part of a company's core competency should be outsourced.
If a core competency yields a long term advantage to the company, it is said to be a sustainable competitive advantage.