Proactive Management of Core Competencies, Innovation and Business Performance in a Period of Crisis: The Case of Spain

At present, it is known that intangible resources are the drivers of economic growth through innovation; intangibles have become the key resource for generating competitive advantage; what’s more, they are the fundamental source of business value. Numerous authors think that a concrete type of intangible resources, the core competencies, are the key factors that drive innovation and thus are able to be a source of competitive advantage. Nevertheless, there are few studies that analyse the relationship between investments in core competencies and business performance. For that reason, our objective is to test whether the proactive management of core competencies, through the investment into them, is translated into improved results in a period of crisis. To achieve the aim of our research, a field study has been done, making telephone calls to Spanish companies’ financial managers. Then, their responses and their financial performance have been analysed. It was concluded that firms, whose managers affirm that invest into their core competencies, have outperformed more efficiency and a higher ROA in a period of crisis.