Sustained success through the management of core competencies: an empirical analysis

The authors examine the relationship between the management of core competencies and long-term success for functional quality teams. The analysis focuses on the following hypotheses: functional quality teams in high-technology companies that are organized around the management of core competencies are more successful in the long run than functional quality teams which are not; different functional quality teams have different core competencies: the portfolio of core competencies depends on the specific role played by the team; and the portfolio of core competencies of a functional quality team evolves with the changing role of the team. Even though the amount of data is too small to be able to show statistical significance, they do tend to show support for all three hypotheses. A result of special interest was the suggestion that, even though core competencies management seems to be associated with success, none of the core competencies management steps taken individually will bring success to the functional quality team. The four steps of core competencies management seem to have a synergistic effect that can result in better performance