SUCCEEDING THROUGH DISTINCTIVE CAPABILITIES

 

Succeeding through Development and Application of Distinctive Capabilities

A competence or skill that is superior to competitors is a distinctive capability. In order to stay longer in the market you need superior competences. Distinctive capabilities especially in product innovation, process efficiency, marketing  and customer service can help companies gain and sustain relative advantage over market contenders.

Key Characteristics of Distinctive Capabilities 

1. Distinctive capabilities can disproportionately create and preserve customer value.
2. Distinctive capabilities have stickiness to home base therefore difficult to acquire through poaching of staff, imitation or reverse engineering.
3. They produce consistent and reliable outputs which market contenders find difficult to replicate.
4. Distinctive capabilities are acquired through continuous learning and improvement. When someone is consistently improving his proficiency or excellence, you only play catch up unless you seriously innovate, changing the rules of the game. or changing the game completely.
5. In order to overpower competition one of the distinctive capabilities should be customer service.
6. Capabilities improve over time through application or usage. The more you utilize them the more valuable they become.
7. Distinctive capabilities can birth new capabilities, thereby increasing market share and profitability of owners.
8. However, distinctive capabilities can be made obsolete through new product or market innovation. Therefore, long term success is hinged on how firms re-create themselves by acquiring, applying and re-configuring their competences or capabilities.

 

As Peter Drucker often remarks,” If you have nothing superior to competitors, don’t compete”, because your days are numbered in the market place. In view of the above, business leaders should  periodically audit and review firm competences and direct which ones should be significantly improved or acquired by market exchanges. Those that have distinctive capabilities that create customer value are mostly likely to win.

 

Dr Andrew Nyambayo (PhD. MBA, Bsc Eng) is a business leader, strategist, coach and motivational speaker with over 20 years experience in the telecommunications and service industry. He is the author of famous books, "Integral Marketing: Enhancing Livelihoods"  and  "Succeeding in Turbulent Times"