Your Company's Core Competency is Constantly Changing

When a company's CEO gets on the financial television news after his corporations stock plummets, it's amazing how they mention the need to get back to their core competencies and shed those ancillary business units.

But, this negates the fact that a company's core competency changes over time, as the consumer or customers needs, wants, desires and demands change. And although such changes appear to be slow, incrementally speaking they are in constant motion, the constant of change.

When we read the famous book; "Built to Last" by Collins and his crack Stanford Research Team, it becomes rather obvious how things change over time. Still, we find large companies cutting off the hands that feed them as the axe feeder business units in Chainsaw Al style.

Apparently, the shareholders have come to believe that when a corporation gets back to its core competencies, it goes back to doing what it does best? Yes, and maybe that is so, but that does not negate the fact that the customers have changed and no longer desire whatever it is that the company offers, see that point?

Perhaps, companies ought to use this terminology more carefully and consider where their revenues are coming from and how each independent business units feeds the entire organization. Increasing efficiency in a business unit, can keep it from losing blood and even if it is not performing up to expectations, if it is not losing money while it feeds business to other units, then should that business unit really be cut?

The goal of a corporation seems to be growth, increased profits and shareholder's value and when companies expend enormous resources to do that, it seems a shame to back-track in retreat and write off sometimes billions of dollars in the process during a downturn in the business cycle. Perhaps the some of this problem lies in the false philosophy of core competencies. Please consider this.

By Lance Winslow

Your Company's Core Competency is Constantly Changing