Strategic Innovation: Embedding Innovation as a Core Competency in Your Organization

THE STRUGGLE TO EMBED CORE COMPETENCIES

Many organizations try to become innovative, but few have succeeded in embedding innovation as a core competency. Prahalad and Hamel and others who write about core competency creation especially stress that sustaining core competencies for the long run is critical to creating value. Prahalad and Hamel (1990) outline five key leadership tasks that are essential to embedding a core competency:

1. Leaders must identify core competencies as specific, deep, shared understandings around the critical few core advantages of the organization. They must assess if each competency meets the core competence test of running across market and product lines, customer benefits, and difficulty of imitation.
2. Leaders must establish ...