Pursuit of Core Competencies for Success

Core competency is a rare possessionwhich enables an organisation to succeed and show good performance.Core competencies alone provide an organisation the much needed competitive advantage to survive,succeed and grow.Therefore pursuit of core competencies is vital for any organisation for its success and continued good performance.
A few years ago I had an occasion to study the working of a hotel at Bangalore,Mavalli Tiffin Room[MTR].My study had revealed that the wonderful success of MTR was entirely due to the pursuit of core competencies.Customer-focus and customer orieantation,quality culture,maintenance of excellent brand imageand employee care were the core competencies ardently preserved religeously pursued and constantly promoted by Sri Mayyaof MTR.Food served in MTR was of very high quality and every employee was quality-consciuosand was committed to high quality.
Sri Mayya had built up and maintained a top brand image of MTR.Customer-focus and customer care in MTR had significantly contributed toproduct differentiation.The motto of MTR is to give to the employees a great deal and get a great deal from them for the organisation.All the employees are well paid and certain extra facilities such as vehicle facility,housing,provident fund,pension etc are extended to them.
In addition I faund universal empowerment of staff in the hotel.Every one was fully committed to the hoteland all had a stake in the progress and growth of the hotel.Some of the companies have failed on account of the absence of such commitment and stake on the part of employeeswho are thoroughly insecure and who have a coviction that tomorrow they are not there.
I had seen how Sri K.K.Pai as chairman of Syndicate Bank was ardently pursuing core competencies of the bank.Pursuit of core competencies enabled him to show unmatched performance in Syndicate Bank.That is why even today he is the only chairman of the bank being remembered,regarded and widely respected by people..
I am conviced that pursuit of core competencies is very vital for organisational success.Mostly core competencies are intangible in nature and core competencies which can be sustainedhave qualities such as low transferability,low replicability,and very high durability.
Physical assets have very poor score in the above parameters whereas intangible talents of a couple of officers alone the competency can be appropriated to one or a fewn and in such a case the competency can be shifted to some other organisation.
On the other hand if the competency is deeply embedded in the fabrics of the organisation as in the case of MTR referred to earlier it can not be easily be appropriated or shifted.. Capacity for continuous improvement and up-gradationof technology ,innovations,customer care and customer-focus ,good organisational culture ,quality culture,employee care,and staff involvement in the activities of the organisation,good brand image etc are highly durable and intangible core competencies of any organisation which must be preserved and pursued for the success of the organisation[Source-Morning News dated 21st February,1999]