How to Identify Corporate Competitiveness and Achieve Breakthroughs?
Companies like Google and Facebook are seen as highly competitive even without a deep understanding of their operations or organizational structure. This is the magic of "core competitiveness," an intangible and immeasurable quality that brings immense value and influence to a company.
Core Competitiveness Can Be Perceived But Not Measured
When you think of well-known companies like Apple, Google, or Facebook, you perceive them as powerful, yet few people can explain how these companies operate, their organizational structure, or their growth strategies. However, people can sense their creativity and responsiveness to customer needs—this is the essence of a company’s core competitiveness. It’s invisible, untouchable, and not easily quantified, yet it generates immense value and influence.
Management guru Dave Ulrich defines corporate competitiveness as an organic combination of a company’s skills, capabilities, and expertise. It stems from a company’s investment in employees, training, communication, compensation, and other human resource areas. These capabilities allow companies to develop stably over time and prevent competitors from easily replicating their success.
DNA of Corporate Competitiveness
Dave Ulrich’s research on renowned companies reveals 11 core elements that allow them to transform technology or customer needs into products or services that satisfy consumers. These elements form the DNA of corporate competitiveness. To help companies identify blind spots and achieve targeted breakthroughs, Ulrich developed the Corporate Competitiveness Assessment tool, which is designed to improve overall competitiveness.
Based on this tool, companies can be categorized into four types: Struggling Organizations, Coordinated Organizations, Harmonized Organizations, and Outstanding Organizations. Each type exhibits different traits and performance levels.
Hong Kong Companies Excel in Customer Maintenance but Need Innovation
Using the Corporate Competitiveness Assessment tool, we evaluated the competitiveness of 23 companies across various industries in Hong Kong over a two-month period. The assessment covered 11 dimensions: talent, speed, brand image, accountability, collaboration, learning, leadership, customer retention, strategic alignment, innovation, and efficiency. Participants included CEOs, salespeople, marketers, and other relevant staff.
The research showed that Hong Kong companies place great emphasis on customer relationship management, adhering to a customer-centric business philosophy. However, they still need to strengthen internal talent development and proactive innovation. The overall competitiveness score for Hong Kong companies was 77.32, placing them in the "Harmonized Organization" category. Key findings include:
R&D Staff Have the Lowest Competitiveness Ratings: While brand strategy scored well (7.16), R&D personnel rated the company’s overall competitiveness at 71.48, which is below average. They cited low operational efficiency (5.81) and weak collaboration between departments (5.95). Additionally, cross-functional learning was identified as a critical area for improvement (5.95), which directly impacts innovation.
Mid-Sized Companies (501-1,000 employees) Have the Highest Competitiveness Ratings: Mid-sized companies and young firms (10-20 years old) scored above 90, excelling in learning capability (8.72) and demonstrating strong innovation potential, positioning them as industry innovators.
Young Companies Need to Focus on Building Core Capabilities: Younger companies suffer from severe inefficiency (3.75), underscoring the need for improved coordination and collaboration across departments. Performance assessments must be more tightly linked to strategic goals, ensuring that performance drives strategy execution and encourages a more holistic business mindset among employees.
How Can Hong Kong Companies Identify Competitiveness Gaps and Formulate Breakthrough Strategies?
Hong Kong companies demonstrate notable strengths in customer relationship management, but areas such as cross-functional learning and innovation need attention. Strategy alignment with employee engagement is another critical issue affecting operational efficiency. These interconnected elements of competitiveness require a holistic, targeted approach for improvement.
Steps to Achieve Competitiveness Breakthroughs
Building on Dave Ulrich’s recommendations for enhancing competitiveness, companies seeking to improve can follow these steps:
1. Conduct a Comprehensive Internal and External Evaluation: Develop a thorough competitiveness assessment tool (such as the Corporate Competitiveness Assessment) to evaluate your company’s current state, expectations, and how you compare with key competitors and industry benchmarks. This will help identify both strengths and weaknesses.
2. Analyze the DNA Element Impact Chain: Elements of corporate DNA are often interconnected. For instance, cross-functional learning is closely related to innovation. The weakest element in the assessment may not always be the first area to address. Companies should analyze these relationships to pinpoint the most effective breakthrough areas.
3. Set Improvement Goals and Plans: Based on the identified breakthrough points, establish clear goals and benchmarks. Whenever possible, make goals tangible and develop a comprehensive plan that ensures improvements are interconnected, avoiding one-sided progress.
4. Allocate Resources and Regularly Evaluate Progress: Enhancing competitiveness is a long-term effort that requires resource allocation. Regular evaluations and adjustments are necessary to ensure that investments contribute to the company’s overall competitive advantage.
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