Dynamic Management of Core Competencies

Author: Huang Jigang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: How enterprises can gain sustainable competitive advantages has always been a question continuously explored and practiced by both theorists and entrepreneurs. Hamel and Prahalad's "core competence" concept undoubtedly provides a fresh and reasonable explanation. This theory holds urgent and practical significance for enterprises that have joined the WTO to enhance their market competitiveness and face international competition challenges. However, the theory itself is not systematic, especially lacking practical guidance in application. Therefore, this book aims to contribute to the application theory of core competence and offer insights for the operational practices of Chinese enterprises. In a dynamic environment, for enterprises to achieve sustainable development, they need dynamic core competence. Correspondingly, enterprises should dynamically manage their core competence. The author takes this as a breakthrough point to explore the dynamic management of core competence, proposing three layers of meaning for dynamic management: the marginality of management, the cyclical nature of management, and the real-time nature of management. Dynamic management is then divided into four logically related yet cyclical and continuously improving stages: identification, cultivation, application, and evaluation of core competence. These contents, along with a theoretical overview of core competence, constitute the main focus of the first two chapters of this book.
In the theoretical overview section, based on extensive analysis, the author categorizes the characteristics of core competence into key and general characteristics. It is proposed that technical capabilities and management are the two fundamental elements of core competence, and any enterprise's core competence is an organic combination of these two fundamental capabilities.
This book is divided into an introduction and eight main chapters. The introduction primarily raises questions, introduces the research objectives and content of the book, and outlines the theoretical and practical significance of the study. The main body is divided into two parts: the upper part (Chapters 1–6) focuses on theory, introducing relevant theories of core competence and elaborating in detail on the dynamic management theory of core competence. The lower part (Chapters 7–8) focuses on practice, offering suggestions for the dynamic management of core competence in Chinese enterprises and providing several case studies for reference.