Formation and development of key competencies of companies. Personnel competencies

Company Competence
Sony Miniaturization
Federal Express Supply management; parcel routing and delivery
wal mart Supply management
Motorola Wireless, digital data compression, flat panel display and power supply technology, and fast cycle times
Merck Drug Development
Marriott Restaurant and building management
Honda Manufacture of engines and electric trains
ZM Production of adhesives, substrates and new materials
EDS Systems Integration
Hewlett Packard Measurement, computer data processing and communication
Nike Procurement, Quality Design, Product Development, Athlete Support, Distribution Networks

The most common is the division of competencies into tangible and intangible (by analogy with assets). Tangible and intangible assets serve as components of a firm's competency framework; and more intangible elements such as organizational processes and culture shape it when added coordinated asset and resource allocation function. The creation of competencies is called "organizational alchemy", as they are built on the intangible, difficult to buy and difficult to copy the abilities of organizations. It is much more difficult for a firm to create a new competency than it is to gain access to resources and assets. The complex human and behavioral aspects of an organization can be more difficult not only to imitate but also to manage and transform. There are three fundamental forms of competence: knowledge, know-how and attitudes.

According to experts, only those factors that provide it with significant competitive advantages and cannot be easily copied by competitors should be classified as internal and external competencies of a company. As a rule, these are factors that require significant experience in a particular industry to create. For example, to internal competencies can include the following:

  • know-how, unique technologies, the ability to create competitive products;
  • well-established and efficient business processes (project management, quality management, sales, marketing, planning, budgeting, staff motivation…);
  • Availability of qualified personnel, which is quite difficult to find in the labor market and takes a lot of time to train.

To external competencies relate:

  • the presence of stable relationships with suppliers and consumers (agents, dealers and distributors);
  • the possibility of lobbying their interests (the presence of relations with government bodies);
  • the ability to provide financing in the required amount, in the shortest possible time and at an affordable price (the presence of stable relations with financial institutions and investors).

Typology of competence

Competence Examples
Independent assets: tangible and intangible Equipment, buildings, goods, software, trademarks
Cognitive abilities: individual and collective, explainable and not expressed in words Knowledge, skills, know-how, technologies, patents
Organizational processes and day-to-day operations: linked to the coordinated deployment of R. Sanchez, A. Hin and H. Thomas (1996) Coordination mechanisms in an organization that integrate individual actions into collective functioning
Organizational structure: can help or hinder a firm's ability to adapt to certain changes Designing the structure of the organization and its relations with the outside world (suppliers, customers, etc.)
Identity: Can help or hinder a firm's adaptability Behavioral and cultural characteristics. Signs of identity: shared values, beliefs, rituals and taboos.

A clear understanding of key competencies makes it possible to create a new competitive space, develop new types of business. This will avoid the "tyranny of the served market". To achieve only parity with competitors is clearly not enough; companies must constantly move from meeting needs to anticipating them; to lead consumers; from focusing on a core business to diversifying around key competencies.

Thus, the company's strategy should be aimed at creating and strengthening its competencies, as well as developing its dynamic capabilities.

Lecture 10. Main types of business strategies (Porter's strategic model). Content and distinctive features of business strategies. Cost leadership strategy: essence, necessary market conditions, main application risks. Strategic cost analysis and the value chain. Outsourcing as a method of value chain management.

A business unit level strategy usually defines how to operate in a competitive environment within your industry in order to succeed.

« Competition strategy - writes Porter, are defensive or offensive actions aimed at achieving a strong position in the industry, to successfully overcome the five competitive forces and thereby generate higher returns on investment. Strategy development has three facets: deciding where the firm is most likely to win the competition; development of such characteristics of the offered products that are able to attract a buyer and distinguish the company from other competitors; neutralization of competitive measures of opponents.

While Porter acknowledges that companies have shown many different ways to achieve this goal, he insists that the only way to outperform other firms is through internally consistent and successful strategies. Here are some typical strategies.

Core competencies provide a strong competitive position for the company and a level of profitability above the industry average. Key competencies are determined based on the competitive capabilities and resources of the company and allow you to create competitive advantages. The pyramid of formation of competitive advantage is shown in fig. 7.1.

The process logic includes the following steps:

1) the organization, having a certain level of resources, develops the ability to act, which will form an opportunity;

2) as experience is gained, the opportunity is transformed into competence - a set of skills, knowledge, know-how, resources and technologies of individual functional areas;

3) unique competence creates the basis for competitive advantage when it is noticed by consumers.

Rice. 7.1. Formation of the competitive advantage of the company

Consider the individual components of the pyramid.

1. Resource Creates a competitive advantage if:

Difficult to reproduce

Has the possibility of long-term use,

Has superiority

It is resistant to neutralization.

2. Key competencies have the following features:

Competence is wider than technology or one component of a key characteristic;

Competences are rarely based on the experience or activities of one area (more often they arise as a result of synergy);

The formation and improvement of competencies is the task of top management;

To turn core competencies into advantages, it is necessary to invest in their creation more than competitors;

Competencies should be sufficiently broad and flexible;

A core competency provides a competitive advantage only if it is unique in comparison with similar competencies of competitors.

Spent - taken into service by the main competitors and turned into industry standards (they are a prerequisite for survival in the market);

Unpromising - at the moment they remain valid, but in the near future they may become widely available;

Sustainable - can serve as the basis for the formation of the company's strategy.

What is a corporate competency model? This problem is faced by personnel officers, consultants who are trying to understand the meaning of competencies, to use them for their intended purpose.

Basic terms

First, let's define the term. Corporate competencies are a volume of professional skills and knowledge, personal attitudes and characteristics that are manifested in the behavior of employees, require the performance of certain job responsibilities.

The competency model is a set of specific competencies that employees need to achieve the goals set by the company's management. Only if employees have certain skills can one count on the successful development of the enterprise.

Corporate competencies imply a system of skills and abilities that an employee possesses in order to be successfully implemented in the professional field.

Components of competence

Currently, it is customary to include several indicators that are their constituent parts. Corporate competencies involve certain skills and abilities. For example, the competence "effective communication" is characterized by:

  • the ability to listen, speak;
  • transmit information in a structured way, build arguments;
  • find out the position, check it;
  • use additional resources to help ensure understanding.

These indicators allow you to give a description of the person who will perform the duties. When ordering a ready-made model from a provider, you need to clearly understand what exactly the business and the company need within certain competencies.

Behavioral indicator

The assessment of corporate competencies is associated with the manifestation of indicators in the behavior of employees. It can be both negative and positive, have a serious impact on the efficiency of the enterprise.

For example, for the indicator “clarifies the position, checks understanding”, the following characteristics can be used to describe the behavioral principle: monosyllabic answers to questions, listening to the interlocutor. Indicators of the behavioral plan are written in accessible words that are understandable to ordinary people. Each indicator should have a clear and precise wording. In any report on the results of the assessment of professional competencies, there should be information not only about “what to do”, but also “how to do it”. In the absence of detail in the report, it is difficult to get a complete picture, to establish cause-and-effect relationships.

Varieties of competencies

Currently, there are various corporate competencies. For example, managerial competencies are managerial competencies that every head of a company should possess. For example, "decision making", as well as "execution management". Technical or functional competencies are those that are necessary for activities in a particular unit.

Accounting scale

The corporate competency model has a certain rating scale. It consists of the name of the level. Depending on the imagination of the compiler, they can be called differently: “beginner”, “advanced”, “intermediate”.

The description of the level should be consistent, showing an increase in development. If the company has chosen a layerless model, then the description is limited to the terms “does” or “does not”. An appraisal system can be considered as an application to the scale. Each level of competence development receives a certain number of points. For example, when representing levels as numerical expressions, one point is selected for each level.

Purpose of competency models

The development of corporate competencies is aimed at establishing certain standards for employees. First of all, we are talking about the level of knowledge, skills, personal qualities that can become both an incentive for development and a brake on the company. The competency model can be considered an analogue, which includes a range of requirements in a transparent and open format. The model may change depending on the goals of the company, as well as on the conditions that exist in the market.

Definition principles

The development of corporate competencies allows the company to occupy a certain niche in its field of activity, to receive a stable profit from its activities. Competences are determined taking into account the specifics of the organization's activities. They allow you to identify those business qualities and professional skills that employees must have in order to bring the company's ideas to life. Five to seven different behavioral skills are considered optimal.

Corporate competencies of employees - customer focus, leadership, the ability to make responsible decisions, loyalty in the organization, the ability to work in a team. Only with the possession of certain skills and abilities can an employee benefit his organization.

It is this competence in corporate governance that is an integral part of the work of absolutely any company.

Among behavioral indicators, focus on results is of particular importance. When setting ambitious goals, achieving the planned results is possible only if the employees have professional competencies. A corporate result can be achieved with the energy, perseverance of each employee, the desire to achieve the planned result.

The subordination of one's actions to the work for the planned result, purposeful activity, self-correction and control of actions - all this can be called real professional competencies.

A qualified employee is able to overcome difficulties that hinder the achievement of results. He knows how to evaluate his own effectiveness by the result achieved, and not by the amount of effort expended.

Features of obtaining competencies

The corporate competencies of an organization involve training on three components: knowledge, skills and abilities.

Knowledge is information about a profession. They are determined by surveys and tests, you can check them in exams.

Skills are conscious things that a person can do at the level of awareness.

Skills are indisputable skills used by a person on an intuitive, semi-automatic level. A person who has certain skills is able to think through the “game” several moves ahead, therefore he is an important employee for the company. He will not make serious mistakes that will lead to a loss of profit for the company.

Varieties of competencies

Modern systems of corporate competencies are a combination of various skills and abilities. If a person is spoken of as a real professional, they mean that he owns a unique system of competencies that turn him into a real master in his field of action. Competence determines a person's ability not only to analyze his skills and abilities, but also to manage his professional growth, set himself new creative tasks, and look for ways to solve them.

A real professional knows how to behave in a crisis situation, he is “aware” of his abilities, corporate competencies. Examples of such skills: personal, managerial, professional, general corporate.

The formation of a competency model is developed by analysts taking into account the specifics of the company's activities. This process is called the formation of a model of professional competencies. In order for the company to work effectively, an individual system of competencies is compiled for it, containing complete information about the qualities that a candidate for a certain position should have. This process is called job profiling.

In addition, personnel assessment is carried out according to the adopted profiles. Tests, various surveys are created, practical cases are developed, thanks to which the skills and knowledge of employees are assessed, real indicators are compared with the criteria that were originally presented for each position.

Conducting an assessment of the levels of competence formation

There are several different ways to conduct such an assessment. There are alphabetic and digital models. The most common option is the assessment of competencies according to the following indicators:

  • "0" implies a complete lack of manifestation of competence at the time of assessment;
  • "1" indicates insufficient skill, weak skills;
  • "2" implies the presence of skills formed at a minimum level;
  • "3" implies the manifestation of skills at a high level, understanding and motivation in activities.

Depending on the position of the manager, a set of certain corporate competencies is developed, while professional competencies are reduced. This does not mean at all that the leader will be inferior in professionalism to his subordinates, but special attention is paid to leadership, the ability to unite people into one team. The manager must understand the specifics of the area in which he works in order to make the right and timely decisions.

Examples of competencies

Let us analyze, for example, corporate and professional competence. For example, such a quality as initiative is a manifestation of corporate competence. Many firms dream of their employees being proactive. But to what extent is this allowed?

One point indicates a weak manifestation of this competence. The employee is aware of the importance of his initiatives, but he himself only sometimes comes up with certain proposals within the framework of his own duties.

Those initiatives that are offered to them are related to the specifics of his professional activity. He can implement innovative methods of work that are proposed by his leader.

A score of two for initiative is considered a strong competency. In this situation, the employee comes up with new methods, schemes, methods of work, thanks to which you can count on a significant increase in performance.

Such an employee enriches, refines, develops those methods and approaches that are already used in production, looking for the possibility of adapting them to a particular company. Such an employee is able to take the initiative, he brings interesting ideas to the company. Otherwise, those ideas that are proposed by the leader will not be developed, the company will not be able to make a profit.

From professional competence, one can cite “playing chess” as an example. Employees of the company must be excellent "chess players" in order to show their creative and personal qualities. With weak competence, which can be represented as one point, the employee understands the rules of the game, takes into account the strengths and weaknesses of "rivals", analyzes the actions of colleagues at work. Such an employee does not have sufficient experience to evenly distribute his skills and abilities in order to obtain the optimal result.

For two points in this competence, the employee's awareness of the subtleties, understanding the importance of innovation for production is assumed. If it is critical for a chess player to have professional competence in order to defeat the opponent, then it is important for a valuable employee to have corporate competencies.

Conclusion

The total requirements for professional and corporate competencies of employees who move up the career ladder should have maximum values. When the head of a private company is asked what skills an employee he plans to hire should have, he first of all highlights not diligence, but initiative, as well as the ability to self-develop.

Of the main managerial competencies that are required in modern business, we highlight the ability to plan one's own activities, as well as coordinate the work of colleagues and subordinates. Only if a potential employee has the ability to set goals and objectives, choosing a way to achieve them, can we talk about the formation of corporate competence. The employee must not only see the situation, but also be able to solve the problem, find a way out.

A professional is a person who demonstrates in his work the skills and abilities associated with his competence, can easily answer any question. For example, a purchasing manager must have information about all types of materials and their types, their main technical characteristics, purchase cost, manufacturers.

Content

Introduction
1. Key competencies of the organization: definition and conditions of formation.

1.1. Key business competencies.

1.3. Key competencies as the basis of a sustainable competitive advantage of an enterprise.

2.1. History and characteristics of Microsoft.

2.2. Key competencies on the example of Microsoft.
Conclusion.

Introduction

What are the key competencies of the organization, why are they needed, how to identify them? This course work will answer all these questions and reveal all the definitions.

The key competence of the company (the term "critical success factor of the company" is also used, CSF) is such a competence, the presence of which allows the company to solve problems that are beyond the power of most other market players, sets a new standard for activity in the industry and thus provides the owner with a competitive advantage. Core competencies are what a company can do better than its competitors. Core competencies are a combination of experience, organizational skills and technological systems that creates exceptional customer value - something that customers highly value. Key competencies are generally the main element of the economic activity of the company. Core competencies are those methods of organizing and implementing production that cannot be found only by using a price system to coordinate actions.

The following questions will be considered:


  • key competencies of the company,

  • key business competencies,

  • signs of key competencies as an object of management,

  • key competencies as the basis of a sustainable competitive advantage of an enterprise.
In this course work, key competencies will be revealed using the example of such a large transnational company as Microsoft.

^ 1. Key competencies: definition and formation

1.1. Key business competencies
The existing terms “competence” and “competence” somewhat repeat each other.

Company Competence- a set of characteristics of the company, which makes it professional at the level of competitors. Competence consists of individual competencies and as a whole is based on competitive and leading technologies. Each of the competencies is an element of general competence.

The term “competence” was coined by W. Makelville in 1982. According to Makelville, competence is a range of problems, a field of activity in which a given person has knowledge and experience; a set of powers, rights and obligations of an official, a public organization.

^ Company Competence (Business Competence) - a set of interrelated skills, abilities and technologies that provide the company with the effective solution of certain tasks, situations. The company's standard competence is a set of advantages, technologies, abilities, knowledge and skills that allows the company to solve typical tasks for this market segment, to carry out operational processes at a level accepted as a standard.

Since the majority of competitors have standard competencies, the lack of standard competencies leads to the company's rapid disappearance from the market. Many standard competencies are confirmed by licenses and certificates. Sometimes competencies are erroneously referred to as company resources.

^ There is also personal (individual) competence - a set of personal properties acquired and fixed by an individual (employee) in the course of educational and / or labor activity, a set of knowledge, skills and abilities required for each position.
^ Objects of personal competencies employees, jobs. Such competencies (key qualifications, soft skills) of employees, as a rule, are a logical consequence of the company's key competencies, business strategy and the business processes that ensure their implementation.

The development of models of personal competencies is carried out by NDT departments and their contractors. Our site does not consider personal competencies.

1.2. Key competencies of the company
For successful competition, it is necessary to formulate all the company's competencies and highlight the key ones.

key company competence

According to G. Hamel and S.K. Prohalad, a company should be perceived not as a set of business units that make it up, but as a combination of key competencies - skills, abilities, technologies that allow the company to provide its customers with certain values.

The key competence is the strategic potential of the company. Operational management of the company (the ability to effectively conduct business) is a way to capitalize on the potential.

^ Signs of key competence: significance for consumers, their willingness to pay for the competence as for the greater part of the acquired value; the ability to change and adapt to new market requirements; uniqueness, low probability of repetition by competitors; based on knowledge, not on coincidence; association with multiple activities or products; relevance, compliance with the strategic aspirations of the market and the company; the possibility of partnership to create a new key competency; clarity, accessibility of the formulation of competence for unambiguous interpretation.
Key competencies can be:


  • knowledge of the needs of the market and the ability to regularly receive this knowledge;

  • the ability to put into practice the proposals required by the market;

  • the ability to continuously build and develop their core competencies.

Key competency criteria:


  • Significance for consumers(consumers are willing to pay for it, it creates most of the perceived value of the consumer)

  • Uniqueness(difficulty in reaching other companies)

  • Opportunity for improvement(when new market requirements appear, the competence can be used after a certain modification)

  • Cooperation(competence may result from the unique interaction of a number of partners, an organization and consumers…)

  • Competence based on knowledge(rather than being the result of a unique set of circumstances)

^ Leading competencies - these are advantages in solving those problems (situations) that will become a zone of competition in the future with increased competition.

The leading competence ensures the company's leadership in the future, it is the presence of those prerequisites that, with appropriate work, can lead to the creation of a unique selling proposition and ensure the company's leadership, entering a new segment:

When done right, core competencies lead to the creation of unique products, provide the company with leadership in entering new markets and significant advantages in solving problems that will become a field of fierce competition.

In a competitive environment, companies strive to protect core competencies in order to maintain a competitive advantage.

A timely understanding of a core competency paves the way for long-term market leadership, and the leadership gained, in turn, requires focusing efforts on a core competency.

Textbook examples of key competency revisions are well known.

Honda, having once changed the key competence of “production of motorcycles” to “production of internal combustion engines”, has become exactly the Honda that the whole world knows today.

SKF, by changing its core competency “ability to manufacture rolling bearings” to “ability to manufacture objects of ideal spherical shape”, has opened up new possibilities for their application in sound and video recording, precision mechanics and optics, and other industries.

One of ways to determine the key competencies of the company- through the identification of key customers, the nature of their needs and the company's role in meeting these needs. This method allows a customer-oriented company to get an answer to the question “What should we do today and tomorrow to meet customer needs?” However, sometimes this approach makes it impossible to identify a company's distinctive competencies (example is Sony with its products far ahead of market needs).

Identifying distinctive competencies is not just an analysis of strengths; it requires the managerial intuition of the business owner. The statement of competence should be clear, but general enough to remain relevant for a long time.
Examples of competencies:


  • Existence of a wide distribution network.

  • Attracting qualified personnel.

  • Availability of an effective information system.

  • Fixing inventions and rationalization proposals in the form of patents.

  • High degree of capacity utilization.

  • Improving product quality (reducing the cost of marriage).

  • Creation of an effective and close to the consumer system of technical support and service.

  • The ability to create effective advertising.

  • Ability to effectively retain customers.

  • The ability to quickly transfer products from idea to industrial production.

  • Ability to quickly respond to changing market conditions.

Competence levels:


  1. surface level- instrumental knowledge and skills.

  2. Intermediate skill level- Social and communication skills.

  3. Normative value level- standards of behavior in a professional environment.

  4. A basic level of-personal characteristics, motives, self-esteem.

1.3. Key competencies as the basis for sustainable

Enterprise competitive advantage
High level of development of information and telecommunication

Technology has led to the acceleration of the processes of adoption and dissemination,

Copying by competitors of new science-intensive technologies, and any other scientific developments. The success of the strategic development of a modern industrial enterprise, its role as an "intellectual leader" in the industry, in this regard, is increasingly determined by internal intangible resources that are difficult to imitate by competitors, the efficiency of using the intellectual and creative potential of personnel, the uniqueness of organizational knowledge, organizational systems, applied technologies, formation and development of key competencies of the enterprise as factors of sustainable competitive advantage.

The main resource for the strategic development of the company in the conditions of the "new

Economies" ("knowledge economies") are not external static, natural and social factors that favor the development of the company, which are traditional for an industrial society, but intellectual capital, the creative potential of personnel, unique organizational knowledge, innovations at all stages of creating a product before moving it from the manufacturer to the consumer.In this regard, the definition of sustainable competitive advantage has been clarified companies as a permanent (due to the dynamics of functional properties) superiority over competitors in a number of the following product features: consumer value, uniqueness, novelty.

Analysis of the evolution of theoretical approaches to the sources and criteria of sustainable competitive advantage (Portera M., H. Itami, A.M.

Brandenburger and B. J. Neilbuff, J. F. Moore, T. Peters and R. Waterman, I. Ansoff and others) showed that the most effective concept in modern conditions is the concept of key competencies proposed by G. Hamel and K .TO. Prahalad, since this concept is the basis of the company's "intellectual leadership" in the industry, ahead of the creation, retention and development of specific sources of sustainable competitive advantages that are difficult to imitate by competitors in modern conditions - the key

Competencies.
Table 1 - Signs of key competencies as an object of management.


Selected signs.

Key competencies as an object of management.





The necessary infrastructure for the development of key competencies.

The relationship of human and organizational capital: special skills, skills of staff and innovative technologies, communication and information systems of the enterprise, corporate culture and other elements.

Criteria for the development of key competencies of an industrial enterprise.

Growth of consumer capital, customer satisfaction and loyalty, investment attractiveness of the company.

Carriers of key competencies.

Personnel with relevant knowledge, skills, abilities and motivations.

"System of key competencies" enterprise, which is

A complex of interconnected and mutually contributing to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage of an enterprise, directions of its strategy by types, levels and criteria for the development of key competencies of an enterprise (Figure 1)

^ Internal component - these are knowledge, skills, abilities, technologies and other elements of human and organizational capital, which in interaction form the main types of key competencies of the enterprise. External component - these are elements of the enterprise's market capital, this is an "external" manifestation of key competencies (consumer

Value, uniqueness, novelty of products; financial results,

Satisfying investors, owners).

To determine the elements of the internal component of the "system of key

competencies" we highlight the types of key competencies of the industrial

Enterprises: by functional areas, by communication with specific carriers of key competencies and types of systemic key competencies; and levels: dynamic (more subject to change, not related to specific carriers, divided by functional areas) and basic (providing conditions for the functioning and changes of dynamic key competencies, the most valuable, difficult to imitate for competitors, are divided into systemic and personal) key competencies. "The system of key

competencies" consists of five directions: within the framework of the external component - the consumer (market), financial direction, the internal component - the direction of dynamic key competencies, basic key competencies and the direction of "intellectual leadership".

It is necessary to highlight the direction of "intellectual leadership", which refers to the internal component and is a kind of "impulse" for changing the parameters of the elements of the "system of key competencies" of the enterprise.

The proposed methodology for the formation and development of key competencies

An industrial enterprise allows solving the tasks of managing key competencies at each allocated stage: "inventory", "search", "development", "deepening" and "preservation" of key competencies.

On first stage (inventory) factors are identified, on

which the competitive strategy of the enterprise is based, are determined

"used" sources of competitive advantage. The result of this stage is the creation of an "inventory" of the company's key competencies. Obtaining the actual state of the "system of key competencies". The following errors may occur during this task:


  • an attempt to assign this task to technical

  • services;

  • misunderstanding of assets and infrastructure as key

  • competencies;

  • focused only on the end product

  • the company's capabilities;

  • insufficient use and understanding of the criterion "perceived by the consumer of value" when compiling a list of competencies.

At this stage, a control comparison of key

Company competencies with key competencies of other firms. Target

Key Competency Definitions - to develop a comprehensive understanding of the skills that currently provide the strategic success of the enterprise, move to the search for new opportunities and create a basis for actively managing the most valuable resources of the enterprise.

Figure 1 - The system of key competencies of the enterprise.
"Search" core competencies of an industrial enterprise is associated with

Identification of new production opportunities, expansion of the target market, with the search for innovative production and management technologies, search and development of personnel with unique skills, abilities and experience. At the next stage ("development"), the goals of the enterprise development strategy are formalized on the basis of key competencies in the areas of the external and internal components of the "system of key competencies", they are translated into the form of indicators for achieving the set strategic goals of the company's development based on key competencies ("key indicators") ), detailing strategic goals and indicators to the level of operational activities.

Stage "recesses" of key competencies includes highlighting the relationships between goals and indicators in the areas of the "system of key competencies" of the enterprise, initiating feedback processes with the development strategy of the key competencies of the enterprise, monitoring the implementation of strategic goals, building hypotheses for the strategic development of the enterprise based on modeling the state of the system of "key competencies" " enterprises.

"Preservation" core competencies is carried out on the basis of the installation

Barriers that protect against imitation by competitors of the unique parameters of the internal environment of the enterprise. From our point of view, this is the most important stage in the functioning of the methodology developed in the dissertation. At each stage of the methodology, after the stage of "inventory" of key competencies, management methods are applied that most of all differ in the specifics of each type of key competencies (basic and dynamic) of the enterprise, most of all depend on the nature of their occurrence.

^ 2. Key competencies of the organization on the example of Microsoft.

2.1. History and characteristics of Microsoft
Microsoft is the largest transnational company producing software for various types of computing equipment - personal computers, game consoles, PDAs, mobile phones and others. Also produces some accessories for personal computers (keyboards, mice, etc.). The staff counted in 2004. 57,000 employees. A public company, its shares are traded on the NASDAQ: MSFT. The company is headquartered in Redmond (a suburb of Seattle), Washington.

Founded in 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen, then students. The name of the company is short for English. MICROcomputer SOFTware (software for microcomputers).

It all started in the last century, back in 1975, when Paul Allen and Bill Gates, after reading the book published on January 1, 1975. in the Popular Electronics magazine an article about the new Altair 8800 personal computer, developed a Basic language interpreter for it. A month later, on February 1, 1975, a license agreement was signed with Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the manufacturer of this PC, to use Basic as part of Altair software. In the same year, Bill Gates, in a letter to Allen, suggested the name for their company - Micro-Soft (with a hyphenated spelling). The new company, which employed three people, ended its first year with a turnover of $16,005. Compare this with 2000, in which the corporation's revenues amounted to $25.3 billion and profits - more than 7.3 billion. The history of Microsoft is touched upon in the film "Pirates of Silicon Valley".

Main article: Software from Microsoft.

Produces operating systems of the Windows family (Windows), office applications of the Microsoft Office family, server application suites, games, multimedia products, software development tools, and Xbox game consoles. Leads a policy of actively buying up promising companies - software developers. In particular, as a result of the takeover of Navision, Solomon, Great Plains, a new large area of ​​Microsoft Dynamics (previously called Microsoft Business Solutions) appeared in the Microsoft assortment. Three solutions in this area are presented in Russia: ERP systems Axapta, Navision and relationship management system - Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Microsoft is often characterized by the fact that its business culture is built around developers. A huge amount of money and time is spent each year recruiting young university-trained software developers and keeping them in the company. For example, while many software companies put their developers in cramped offices, Microsoft provides a private or near-private office for every developer or developer couple. Also, key decisions at all levels are made by developers or former developers.

The "Eat your dog's food" principle is common in the Company, which can be defined as the use of the latest Microsoft products within the company to test them in realistic conditions. Only unfinished versions of programs are used as "dog food".

The company is also known for its out-of-the-box methods in job interviews. For example, non-trivial questions like “Why are manhole covers round?” can be asked. Many organizations have adopted this approach, although it is now much less common than in the past.

In the US, Microsoft funds several public policy institutions, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Heritage Foundation.

Figure 2 - The current organizational structure of Microsoft.

2.2. Divisions at Microsoft

Platform Products and Services Division:
This division produces the main brainchild of the company - the Windows operating system. During the existence of the company, several versions of graphical shells for DOS were released - Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me (only Windows 3.1 was a shell over DOS, and Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me inherited the old 16-bit code). As well as full-fledged operating systems of the NT “series” (read as en-ti): Windows NT 4, the most common version promoted under the NT brand, had 6 numbered service packs - service pack; Windows 2000 (Windows NT 5), Windows XP (Windows NT 5.1), Windows Server 2003 (Windows NT 5.2). Released at the beginning of 2007, Windows Vista (Windows NT 6) is just beginning its timid (compared to Windows XP) steps on the market. In the world, most personal computers for buyers (end users) are sold with a pre-installed copy of some kind of Windows. The most common at the moment is Windows XP.

Also included in this division is the Internet service MSN, the cable television station MSNBC and the Microsoft Slate online store. In 1997, Microsoft acquired Hotmail, which was renamed "Microsoft Hotmail". In 1999, the instant messaging program MSN Messenger was introduced to compete with the popular AOL Instant Messenger.

Microsoft Visual Studio is a collection of programming utilities and compilers. This set of programs is GUI-oriented and uses third-party Microsoft libraries. The latest version was released in 2005.

Microsoft also offers server software sold under the name Windows Server System. The main part is Windows Server 2003 - an operating system for network servers. Another important program of this set is System Management Server - a collection of utilities for various server operations, such as remote control, etc.

Business division. The main task of this division is the development of financial and business applications for various companies. It produces Microsoft Office, the company's line of office applications, which includes: Word (Text editor), Access (Database management), Excel (Spreadsheet creation), Outlook (E-mail and sharing services such as Microsoft Exchange) , PowerPoint (Working with presentations), Microsoft FrontPage (HTML editor).

^ Entertainment and Devices Division:

Microsoft is constantly pushing the Windows brand into other markets. Examples of this advancement are Windows CE for PDAs and the creation of smartphones running Windows Mobile.

^ Corporation structure.
The company is managed by a board of directors consisting of ten people. These ten people are elected at the annual shareholders' meeting. Those who do not receive a majority of votes must submit their resignation, which is subsequently considered. To consider various issues, there are 5 committees: Audit (related to audit issues), Compensation (approves compensation to company employees), Financial (solving financial issues), Management and Nomination (solving various internal issues) and anti-crisis (forecasting and preventing crises).
2.2222Microsoft Core Values
Considering the issues of key competencies and dynamic capabilities, it is necessary to note the system of corporate values ​​of Microsoft, that is, beliefs and organizational norms shared by almost all employees of the company. Core values, or corporate culture, are like the cement that holds the entire organization together, and they contribute, both positively and negatively, to the ability of the company as a whole to achieve and maintain competitive advantage. Microsoft creates core values ​​that contribute to the success of the corporation.


  1. ^ Result orientation. Microsoft's corporate culture has some notable features. There is no doubt that the corporation has a cult of personality, but employees do not just bow to Gates or blindly follow his example, but try to adopt and reproduce his most useful features. Employees constantly try to guess "what Bill would do", but they also say it's an honor to defy him and win. Gates managed to instill in his employees that great ideas are only ideas that can be sold. What really motivates highly educated workers is a sense of pride in a job well done. The style adopted in the company reflects the qualities of its leader: self-confidence, energy, creativity and diligence. The atmosphere in the company is informal but purposeful, entirely devoted to the development of new programs and highly competitive. The working day of employees often goes beyond the norm, many stay overnight, developing programs. Gates' psychological method of motivating employees is based on setting goals that are unattainable and instilling a sense of defeat in employees that makes them put forth more effort next time. The company's philosophy of personal responsibility is reinforced by a management reporting system that records P&L status for each sales manager as well as for the head of the overseas subsidiary.

  2. ^ Spirit of competition. It may seem strange that Microsoft and its employees feel insecure, however, the company tends to believe that even short-term setbacks are tantamount to a loss. Employees of the company in their work are largely guided by the fear of failure and the threat of dismissal. For several years, Gates has motivated his subordinates with reminders of the competitive dangers ahead of the company. When a product is released, has received rave reviews, and prices have skyrocketed, Microsoft employees aren't celebrating, but reconsidering what needs to be done better. And top management always points out to the company's programmers their number one enemy - Novell in 1994, Netscape in 1995 and 1996, Sun Microsystems in 1997, 1998 and 1999. "Remember," Gates says, "Microsoft's 'we'd better keep working' ethos." But for Gates, Gates' biggest competitor is himself: new and improved Microsoft programs. The company must ensure that all our new products are much better than the previous ones. If we don't do this, consumers won't buy new programs."

  3. ^ Openness to bad news. Gates says: "I have a natural instinct to look for bad news. If something is wrong, I want to know everything. The people who work with me understand this." The product review meetings with Gates, known as "Bill meetings," are sharp and relentless questions, sharp criticism, and tight deadlines. Gates sometimes claims that his most important job as a company executive is listening to bad news.

^ 2.2. Key competencies on the example of Microsoft.
Core competencies are what a company can do better than its competitors. Core competencies are a combination of experience, organizational skills and technological systems that creates exceptional customer value - something that customers highly value. Therefore, the true source of competitive advantage is the ability of corporate leaders to consolidate organizational, technological and production potential to strengthen individual production programs (or enterprises of the corporation) in a highly competitive environment. Thus, it is then easier for a company to achieve a competitive advantage over rivals when it has key competencies in an area important for success in the market, while competitors do not have such competencies and it is too expensive and time consuming to obtain them. For example, competitors may acquire some process lines that are part of the core competencies, but as a rule, they will encounter significant difficulties if they try to copy the more or less complete system of internal organization of the production process necessary to transform simple technology lines into technology core competencies. competencies.

Key competencies are generally the main element of the economic activity of the company. Accordingly, in order to determine them, it is necessary to consider the entire range of products and services of the company and its competitors. Thus, the key competencies of Eastman Kodak are the clarity of image transmission, IBM is the speed and reliability of data processing, Motorola is the reliability and quality of wireless communications. The weight and importance of core competencies to a company's competitive advantage depends on how well it can maintain its competitive edge and how difficult it is to copy those competencies.

Core competencies are those methods of organizing and implementing production that cannot be found only by using a price system to coordinate actions. The essence of core competencies lies in the fact that they cannot be obtained ready-made, since it is impossible to exactly repeat the characteristics of the internal organization of the company, simply by copying the set of organizational units identified in formal contracts. Even when a company does not actually own every link in the value chain of its products, competitors will still not be able to exactly copy key competencies. Thus, competitors of the Western Union payment system have not yet been able to achieve coherence and global coverage of customers, despite the fact that the technologies used in Western Union are now available to everyone.

Thus, competitive advantage may not require competencies at every stage of the customer value chain. But control and efficiency in the most important areas are necessary to determine the competitive position. One should always distinguish between those actions that lead to success in competition with other firms and those that are necessary for the firm's survival. For example, the quality of rubber on the chassis of a jet fighter must meet a minimum set of requirements for takeoff and landing. Therefore, having chosen the necessary chassis, the designer should stop thinking about it (if he needs to do it at all) and focus on aspects that determine who will emerge victorious from the battle, for example, on the weapon guidance system. In other words, the core competencies of corporations are the activities that are vital to achieving competitive advantage.


  1. ^ Standards control . Microsoft has been successful in creating product standards in its industry. The Windows operating system, developed by the company, claims 86% of the market, and the Microsoft Office suite of programs - 87%. The logic of control over standards is different from the usual logic of competition. A car manufacturer, for example, having achieved a market share determined by the consumer characteristics of its products, will be able to increase its sales volumes with difficulty in the future. Microsoft, on the other hand, is having less and less trouble increasing sales as more and more people buy its products: the millionth customer of the Windows operating system doesn't just give over $100 to the company, they create one million compatible Windows-to-Windows relationships. That is, the consumer value of Microsoft products, as well as other standard products, lies in the exponentially increasing compatibility of products. Microsoft has invested huge amounts of money in gaining control over industry standards, often just giving away its software for free in order to increase the number of users. Today, Microsoft is focusing its activities on seizing control of standards in new areas: in automatic personal computers, cable television and other types of information business, for which it spares neither time nor money. The company's strategy in recent years has been to expand into new computer markets, from the PDA market to the giant corporate network market, with its new versions of the Windows operating system. The company's biggest hopes are in the soon-to-be-renamed Windows 2000 version of Windows NT. The company wants to make the operating system the standard for virtually all types of computers. The enormity of the project to create software for such a wide range of computers cannot be overestimated, both in terms of impact on the entire industry and in terms of creating a long-term competitive advantage for Microsoft.

  2. ^ System compatibility. Microsoft makes products that can work with each other. The consumer who purchases Microsoft Office knows that all applications are compatible and will interoperate on a Windows-based system. The company is developing additional features for its key products, Office, BackOffice and Windows. There are many other programs, such as Visual Studio, that are just as important, but Microsoft today prefers to improve on its core products. Part of this strategy is the company's desire to invest not in costly add-ons, but in improving the functionality and networking of Windows. About 30% of the money allocated for R & D, the company invests in projects to expand system compatibility.

  3. ^ Cross-functional commands. Microsoft is a clear mission-driven company, its organization more like a complex web of teams and projects than a clear vertical orientation. There are no internal organizational boundaries in it, but everyone is trying to cope with difficulties together. The corporation successfully directs the activities of people working in various departments on various programs in order to overcome the problems facing the company as a whole. Gates' approach to teamwork is to tell everyone, “Don't worry about the others. I guarantee that they will do their job and release products with the right specification at the right time. Just do your thing and don't think about the rest." Because of this organization, different teams can work simultaneously rather than sequentially, which speeds up the development process and avoids disagreements between employees. The manufacturing process is transformed into a well-thought-out plan of action for the release of compatible products.

So if Microsoft's core competencies lie in technology integration, they also lie in the ability to build an organization to produce the highest customer value. Such core competencies are based on experience and knowledge, and not on machines, machines and other physical assets. So, unlike core balance sheets that wear out over time, Microsoft's core competencies don't lose their value from their use. On the other hand, even such competencies need to be protected and improved - without constant application, experience is lost.

Conclusion

key(distinctive, basic, exceptional, basic, unique, business competence) company competence(the term “critical success factor of a company” is also used, CFU) is such a competence, the presence of which allows the company to solve problems that are beyond the power of most other market players, sets a new standard for activity in the industry and thus provides the owner with a competitive advantage.

Core competencies are what a company can do better than its competitors. Core competencies are a combination of experience, organizational skills and technological systems that creates exceptional customer value - something that customers highly value. Key competencies are generally the main element of the economic activity of the company. Core competencies are those methods of organizing and implementing production that cannot be found only by using a price system to coordinate actions.

A perfect illustration of the above is the Microsoft Corporation, whose strong market position and ultra-high profits are based on three core competencies of the company:


  • Standards control.

  • System compatibility.

  • Cross-functional commands.
Thus, we can say that the topic of this course work is fully disclosed and all the above questions have been answered.
Bibliography.

1. Journal "Economic Strategies". Zakhar Bolshakov. (

Term "key competencies" became widely known after the publication of the works of G. Hamel and K. Prahalad. They give it two definitions.

The first is “the skills and abilities that enable a company to deliver fundamental benefits to consumers.”

The second is a set of skills and technologies, the knowledge and experience accumulated by the organization, which become the basis for successful competition.

The competence of the company appears as a result of long-term work, careful selection of personnel, accumulation of the necessary knowledge and skills, organization of collective work to achieve high productivity.

When all these indicators reach a sufficiently high degree, we can say that the company has moved to a higher level of quality, because. at the same cost, knowledge and experience have been transformed into true competence, turned into a competitive opportunity that consumers have noticed.

Features of key competencies

A specific key competency is always individual, because is present only within the framework of one business system with its own individual set of resources and abilities.

Key competencies for the company can be:

Knowledge of the needs of the market and the ability to regularly receive this knowledge;

The ability to put into practice the proposals required by the market;

The ability to continuously build and develop their core competencies.

Key competencies are created through the quality management of human resources, knowledge bases and intellectual capital, as well as through the coordination and unification of the efforts of working groups, departments and external partners. At the same time, the competencies of the company must be flexible to ensure compliance with any market requirements.

Competitive advantage

Today, most companies have standard competencies, so they cannot become a guarantee of successful activity.

For successful competition, it is necessary to formulate a key unique competence that will allow the company, firstly, to solve problems that are inaccessible to most other market players, and secondly, to set a new standard of activity in the industry and thereby ensure competitive advantage.

Competitive advantage is understood as a set of company characteristics that allow, at lower costs than competitors, to produce goods that are of greater value to the consumer. There are many ways to achieve a competitive advantage, including offering quality goods or services at low prices, high quality goods at high prices, goods with the best combination of price, quality, consumer properties, service level, etc.

Factors that form a competitive advantage

Factors capable of providing a competitive advantage are divided into internal and external.

Internals include:

scale effect;
- experience effect;
- concentration effect;
- the effect of resource-saving technologies;
- synergy effect;
- effect of vertical integration.

The external ones are:

Improving the components of the value chain according to Porter;
- improvement of market segmentation;
- improvement of the components of the extended product concept.

Benefits of core competencies

A core competency has the following benefits:

Significant for consumers who are willing to pay for the competency as for the bulk of the acquired value;
- able to change and adapt to new market requirements;
- unique, it is unlikely that competitors will be able to repeat it;
- based on knowledge, not on coincidence;
- linked to several activities or products;
- relevant, because corresponds to the strategic aspirations of the market and the company;
- provides an opportunity for partnership to create a new core competency;
- clarity and accessibility of the wording of the competence allows for an unambiguous interpretation.

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