Competencies for the “Technological Europe” of Tomorrow: A New Model and an Emerging Concept of Interorganizational Competence

This chapter aims to further our knowledge of competency management by looking at a new type of competence: inter-organizational competence. The need for a new concept arose from our research into the little-known links between two aspects of competence, collective competence and environmental competence. In this chapter we will analyze this link based on an empirical study carried out at an international semiconductor company. We will also explain how we came to identify a new type of competence: inter-organizational competence. We will begin by reviewing current ideas about collective competence and environmental competence. We will then outline the topic of our research, describe the context in which it was carried out, and explain the methodology used. We will then present the findings of our research, followed by analysis and discussion of a model of collective competence that includes an external – or, more accurately – inter-organizational – dimension and the emergence of a new concept: inter-organizational competence.