Human Resource Competencies Development for Competitive Advantage. A Case from the Food Industry

Practitioners and researchers have claimed that knowledge-based resources or competencies may be critical sources for competitive advantage (CA). The literature in the field is still weak in presenting valuable frameworks and methodologies with a large spectrum of application. On the other side, many organizations are only vaguely aware of the value of their human resources’ competencies thus demonstrating capabilities for surviving and not for continuous growth. In this context, the paper aims to debate the role of the core competencies on the sustainable CA, from the theoretical and practical point of views. First, the research approach will be focus on defining and explaining the primary concepts as: CA, core competencies and learning organization. In the second part, there will be presented a successful methodology for the competencies development in the case of a factory operating the food industry and that has positively affected the organization’s core competencies continuous improvement. Some organizational aspects of the implemented methodology will underline the effects on achieving a sustainable CA.