Specifying and Understanding the Dimensions of Core Competencies in the Ethical Pharmaceutical Industry
Winter, Gregory Scott
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/84606
Description
Title
Specifying and Understanding the Dimensions of Core Competencies in the Ethical Pharmaceutical Industry
Author(s)
Winter, Gregory Scott
Issue Date
1999
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Joseph Mahoney
Sudharshan, Devanathan
Department of Study
Business Administration
Discipline
Business Administration
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Economics, Commerce-Business
Language
eng
Abstract
This study examines the specification and understanding of core competencies through the development of a new theoretical framework and use of a multi-method methodology. This study will benefit both researchers and practitioners in understanding the strategic management process. The motivation of this thesis is to better specify and understand the basic underlying components comprising core competencies within the context of the ethical pharmaceutical industry. To advance this goal, a new theoretical framework emphasizing the central role of information transparency in the diffusion of important information is developed. With the use of the multi-method methodology, this theoretical framework may be used in reaching an understanding of the skills and capabilities that achieve firm-sustainable competitive advantage (within the context of a given industry). Competitive advantages (core competencies) arise from valuable information asymmetries that are sustainable due to difficulty in their articulation (tacitness) and/or in their apprehension (intangibility). In each case information diffusion (and learning by others) is impeded. In this thesis I do not distinguish between these two difficulties in information diffusion (articulation and apprehension). I call both examples of low information transparency. Yet if core competencies are intrinsically resultants of low valuable information transparency (which is difficult to diffuse), then how may one specify them? Industry participants and others who hold specific expertise are assumed to possess tacit knowledge of core competencies and are thus unable to easily articulate (specify) this knowledge. To circumvent this difficulty in communication I advance a multi-method methodology that elicits dimensions of core competencies through perceptual mapping. Results of this perceptual mapping are used in developing a questionnaire that is factor analyzed to further help in specifying core competencies.
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