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Competitive advantage
3.2 Characteristics of core competencies
A core competence has three characteristics (Prahalad and Hamel):
it provides potential access to a wide variety of markets
it increases perceived customer benefits
it is hard for competitors to imitate.
Prahalad and Hamel's work on core competencies focuses on the strategic intent of
an organisation to leverage its internal capabilities and core competencies to confront
competition. This is sometimes referred to as strategic stretch.
Organisations need to ensure that they are continually monitoring their marketplace
to ensure that their core competencies are still valid and that all thresholds are duly
satisfied.
Illustrations and further practice
Try case study style question 1 from Chapter 3 of the Study Text.
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