Enhancing Financial and Strategic Performance through Core Competencies and Competitive Advantage: A Thematic Analysis

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the realm of core competencies, competitive advantage, financialperformance, and strategic performance of an oil and gas company in Malaysia and to develop amodel depicting the relationship among these constructs. Semi-structured interviews wereconducted with ten experienced executive officers from the company to solicit information aboutthe organisation’s core competencies, competitive advantages, financial performance, as well asstrategic performance. The study identified that most organisations often mistake corecompetencies for capabilities. Furthermore, the study lends support to the theoretical finding thatfirms which develop core competencies result in having a competitive advantage and have superiormarket performance. The study is a pioneer for a Malaysian oil and gas company; the workdevelops a model that can help enhance an oil and Gas Company’s financial and strategicperformance.