Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control, Third Edition

Obviously assets should not be viewed in isolation, it is also important

to establish any competencies that give the organisation advantages. The

value chain is a useful framework to use to identify these areas of unique

competence. Key competencies may lie in primary activities. These

include activities such as in-bound logistics (e.g. inventory control), oper-

ations (e.g. manufacturing), out-bound logistics (e.g. global delivery),

marketing (e.g. brand development) and service (e.g. installation). Other

key competencies may lie in support activities such as procurement, tech-

nology development, human resource management and the organisa-

tion’s infrastructure.

When trying to identify these competencies rather than using the

generic value chain it may be more effective to develop a value chain that

reflects the specific operations that face a particular business sector. The

primary activities for an organisation offering management consultancy

are outlined in Figure 9.2.

184 Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control

Consulting firm infrastructure

Human resource development and management

Consulting technology and IT systems

Procurement of human and physical assets

ServiceconfigurationMarketing and sales Data collection Data analysis Interpretation and recommend -ationsReporting and communicationImplementation service and evaluation

Figure 9.2
The value chain of a management consultancy practice (Source: Adapted from Buckley, 1993)

An organisation’s key competencies once identified will normally fall

into the areas of marketing, selling or operations (see Figure 9.3).