Strategy and Performance: Competing through Competences

✍ Scribed by John Mills, Ken Platts, Michael Bourne, Huw Richards

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 193
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In a world where customers are fickle and markets change overnight, you need to be ready to move rapidly when opportunities or threats arise. This book helps you to understand your organization's potential, its capabilities and limitations, so when new challenges appear, you'll know how to manage your resources effectively to take advantage of them. It will show you how to build a more sustainable competitive advantage by revealing the techniques that underlie your firm's strategy, and explaining how to improve and manage these resources to reinforce your strengths and ameliorate your weaknesses. Written for managers of small to medium sized businesses and industry consultants, this book also forms part of a three-volume set covering business strategy, performance, and competencies.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Changing your business boundaries......Page 13
Disaster is at hand......Page 14
Fresh insights on how to improve......Page 16
An aside for small companies and start-ups......Page 17
How to use this book......Page 19
1.1 What is a competence?......Page 21
1.2 Categories of competence......Page 24
1.3 Resource and competence architecture......Page 26
Superlative Delivered Quality Inc. (SDQ)......Page 27
1.4 What is a resource?......Page 31
1.5 What makes a resource important?......Page 33
Is it valuable?......Page 34
Is that value sustainable?......Page 35
Is it versatile?......Page 36
1.7 Summary......Page 38
1.8 Further reading......Page 39
2 Awareness – what does success look like?......Page 41
2.1 The need......Page 42
2.2 The approach......Page 44
2.4 Toolkit......Page 46
2.4.1 Awareness......Page 47
Case example: Anonimo Inc.......Page 49
2.5 Summary......Page 50
2.6 Process review......Page 51
3 Matching problems to analysis methods......Page 53
3.1 Boundary change decisions, disaster and sustainable advantage......Page 54
3.2 ‘Top-down’ versus ‘bottom-up’ processes......Page 57
3.3 The level of detail required......Page 58
3.4 Insight......Page 60
3.6 Further reading......Page 62
4.1 Deciding the focus......Page 63
4.3 Issues......Page 65
4.4 Toolkit......Page 66
E 1: A service competence......Page 67
E 2: Research unit competence......Page 69
4.6 Process review......Page 71
5.1 The need......Page 73
5.2 Identification – a new angle......Page 74
5.3 Toolkit......Page 78
5.3.1 Pictorial histories - preparation......Page 79
5.3.2 Pictorial histories – picture generation......Page 80
5.3.3 Extract, list and categorise the underlying resources.......Page 81
Extracting resources – examples......Page 82
5.4 Summary......Page 85
5.5 Process review......Page 86
6.1 What’s the problem?......Page 87
6.2 Issues in practice......Page 89
Is It Valuable?......Page 91
Is that value sustainable?......Page 92
6.3 Outcomes......Page 94
6.4.1 Evaluation context......Page 95
6.4.2 Resource Evaluation......Page 96
Worked examples......Page 98
6.6 Process review......Page 103
6.7 Further reading......Page 104
7 Building a resource and competence base......Page 105
7.1 Evolution, incubation and acquisition compared......Page 107
7.2 Resource and competence architecture revisited......Page 109
7.3.1 Increasing value......Page 111
7.3.3 Increasing versatility......Page 114
7.3.4 Resistance......Page 116
7.4.1 Macro co-ordination......Page 118
The United States Navy......Page 119
Toyota......Page 122
7.4.3 Enablers of micro co-ordination......Page 126
7.5.1 Socially supportive......Page 129
7.5.2 Technically supportive......Page 130
7.6 Toolkit......Page 131
7.6.2 Which improvement mechanisms should be used?......Page 132
7.6.3 Implementation advice......Page 136
7.8 Process review......Page 138
For more on micro co-ordination:......Page 139
8.1 Why should we measure resource and competence development?......Page 141
8.1.1. Balancing short and long term......Page 142
8.1.2 Moving from achievement to improvement......Page 143
8.2 A competence-based performance measurement framework......Page 145
8.2.1 A competence performance framework......Page 147
8.2.2 A Resource measurement framework......Page 148
8.3 Using the competence and resource measurement frameworks......Page 149
Case 1. Measuring an order winning competence......Page 150
Case 2. Measuring support processes – recruitment and development......Page 155
Case 3. Measuring the order fulfilment competence......Page 160
8.4 Measurement or assessment......Page 162
8.5.1 Designing resource measures......Page 164
8.6 Summary......Page 167
8.8 Further reading......Page 168
9.1.1 Over-exercising a competence......Page 169
9.1.2 Appropriability......Page 171
9.1.3 Other risks from resource and competence analysis......Page 172
9.2.1 The interaction of market and resource perspectives......Page 173
9.2.2 The relative importance of resource and market perspectives......Page 174
9.3.1 A historical perspective......Page 178
9.3.2 General Electric......Page 180
9.3.3 Summary......Page 183
9.4 What’s next?......Page 184
9.5 Summary......Page 187
9.6 Further reading......Page 188
Index......Page 189