Core Competencies definition
Core competencies, as originally defined by business authors C K Prahalad and Gary Hamel in 1990, are characteristics seen internally as key to the way the company operates and, without these, the company would lose significant strength.
According to Prahalad and Hamel, a core competency must satisfy three criteria:
- It must be difficult for competitors to imitate
- It can be used widely for many products and markets
- It must contribute to the end user’s experience and benefits