A distinctive capability or competence can be described as an important feature that in Quinn’s (1980) phrase ‘confers superiority on the organization’.

1. Distinctive capabilities
Strategic Human Resource Management

2. Prepared By
Kindly restrict the use of slides for personal purpose.
Please seek permission to reproduce the same in public forms and presentations.
Manu Melwin Joy
Assistant Professor
Ilahia School of Management Studies
Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com

3. The concept of Strategy
• The concept of strategy is
based on three subsidiary
concepts:
– Competitive advantage.
– Distinctive capabilities and
– Strategic fit.

4. Distinctive capabilities
• A distinctive capability or
competence can be
described as an
important feature that in
Quinn’s (1980) phrase
‘confers superiority on
the organization’.

5. Distinctive capabilities
• Distinctive capabilities
are those characteristics
that cannot be replicated
by competitors, or can
only be imitated with
great difficulty.

6. Distinctive capabilities
• Four criteria have been proposed
by Barney (1991) for deciding
whether a resource can be
regarded as a distinctive capability
or competency:
– Value creation for the
customer;
– Rarity compared to the
competition;
– Non-imitability;
– Non-substitutability.