IPA FE Subject A 2024 Question 16
A question IPA Japan published in 令和６年度 基本情報技術者試験 科目A 公開問題 問16, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
Same question on ITPEC: Spr 2021 Q66
Which of the following is an explanation of core competence?
Explanation
The management resources that are the source of competitive advantage — core competence is what a company does better than its rivals.
Core competence (Prahalad and Hamel) is a company's distinctive combination of technologies, skills and know-how that customers value, that competitors find hard to imitate, and that can be applied across several products and markets. Strategy builds on it, for example by keeping it in-house while outsourcing the rest.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) — the basic mindset and action guidelines behind management is the management philosophy (corporate philosophy)
- •(b) — opportunities and threats in the surrounding environment are the external half of a SWOT analysis
- •(d) — the objectives to be achieved by executing a strategy are management goals, the result aimed at rather than the resource that achieves it
Key rule: Core competence is an internal strength that is valuable, hard to copy and reusable across businesses; external factors and goals are different parts of strategy.
Business Strategy Management · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.