Understanding, Finding, and Applying Core Competencies: A Framework, Guide, and Description for Corporate Managers and Research Professionals: Working Paper Series--09-15

In recent years, managerial interest in corporate core competencies as competitive tools has risen greatly. Corporate managers and professionals often have three questions regarding them. First, what are corporate core competencies? Second, how can the ones held by a particular firm be identified? Third, how do core competencies integrate with other kinds of corporate knowledge to produce particular products and services? This paper answers the first question by presenting a framework describing the internal dynamic and elements of core competencies. It answers the second by providing a usable guide to discovering them within a firm. It answers the third by describing core competencies' place within the structure of organizational knowledge held by corporations. The authors hope that this framework, guide, and description will prove useful to corporate managers and research professionals interested in strengthening their core competencies and applying them more effectively