Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, (Srinagar), CC Jammu, Old University Campus, Canal Road, Jammu Tawi, (J&K State) India. E-mail: anjanakak@rediffmail.com.
This paper aims to present the empirical findings for the relationship between Core Competence, Competitive advantage, and Competitiveness. A comprehensive literature review, idea engineering exercise and exploratory study, has been carried out to identify the issued related to the present study. The variables identified from the issues have been clustered into macro variables. A conceptual model showing the relationships among the macro variables is developed. The framework assumes that the core competence helps to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, which in turn leads to competitiveness in terms of corporate success. The core competence has been measured on two dimensions, i.e., competence at the level of people, and competence at the level of technology. For competitive advantage, differentiation, cost and time are considered as the surrogate measures. Competitiveness for corporate success is measured on the fronts of profitability and growth. A questionnaire is developed for the empirical testing. The links between the quantitative variables are used for framing hypotheses. The set of hypotheses derived from the model is subsequently tested by a questionnaire survey. The survey results have shown that core competence helps in generating a sustainable competitive advantage, which in turn results in corporate success. The major findings reveal that ‘competence at the level of technology’ leads to the generation of sustainable competitive advantage and profitability, while as ‘differentiation’ and ‘time’ advantage helps in achieving corporate success in terms of growth.
competitiveness, core competence, corporate success, growth, profitability, sustainable competitive advantage
