In 1990, Gary Hammer and Praharad proposed core competitiveness in "Corporate Competencies", defining it as "cumulative knowledge in an organization, especially about how to coordinate various production skills and integrate various knowledge of a kind of technology”. The core competitiveness of an enterprise is based on core resources. The comprehensive advantages of the enterprise's technology, products, management, culture, etc. in the market can bring excess profits to the enterprise and are not easily imitated by competitors. Tiss, Pisano and Schun, Patton, McKinsey Consulting, etc. also have different definitions of core competitiveness. Praharad also proposed the "tree-shaped" theory, vividly explaining the relationship between core competitiveness and enterprises.

Gary Hammer and Praharad proposed three attributes of core competitiveness: for market recognition, it can provide opportunities to enter potential markets; bring special benefits to customers, improve corporate efficiency, and expand customer interests; it is difficult for competitors to imitate. Subsequent researchers added judgment criteria such as heterogeneity and small number, difficult to replace, and strong ductility.

Corporate competitiveness is the competitiveness of an enterprise in the functional field, which is reflected in the relative advantages of marketing, brand, technology, etc., and has poor stability. The core competitiveness of an enterprise is at the core of the enterprise, with a long life cycle and high stability, which can enable the enterprise to maintain long-term competitive advantages and obtain excess profits. Its formation depends on the integration of various competitiveness of the enterprise.

Core competitiveness needs to have four standards: value, scarcity, irreplaceability and difficulty in imitation. Value refers to the ability to create value for the company and realize the value that customers value; scarcity refers to only being mastered by a few competitors; irreplaceable refers to irreplaceable in the process of creating value for customers; difficulty in imitation refers to the ability to transfer or copy Bring excess profits to the company. It can be determined whether the company's resources and capabilities form core competitiveness through the "Core Competitiveness and Competitive Advantage Evaluation Analysis Table".

2.2.1 Internal identification of core competitiveness

2.2.2 External identification of core competitiveness

Core competitiveness includes the company's strategic decision-making ability, research and development ability, continuous innovation ability, ability to organize and coordinate the effective production of various production factors, core marketing ability, adaptability and distinctive corporate culture.

The core competitiveness of an enterprise is derived from technological innovation, organizational innovation, value innovation, management innovation, and knowledge innovation. System and mechanism innovation are the prerequisites for its generation and maintenance. Innovation can enable enterprises to maintain a leading position and form core competitiveness; reasonable systems and mechanisms help the formation of core competitiveness, and a good corporate culture is the soil for nurturing core competitiveness.

The core competitiveness of an enterprise is divided into three forms: factor integration, factor transformation, and factor operational power. Factor integration is an organic combination of various factors, producing new collective effects; factor transformation is the ability to transform factor effects into comprehensive effects of production, products and enterprises; factor operation is the management, application and market operation of factors Ability, these three capabilities constitute the core competitiveness system of the enterprise