core competence

Competence that lies at the heart of an organization. An organization may have several distinct core competencies. As well as the products and services that a company sells, core competencies include ‘soft’ areas of a company's activities, such as branding, organizational innovation, and service. Identifying core competencies allows an organization to nurture and build on its strengths rather than pursuing activities for which it does not possess the necessary skills.

The concept of core competencies was championed by US academics Gary Hamel and C K Prahalad in their book Competing for the Future (1994).