The third case study for CMA (Final) - Group 3 students-

Paper 15- Business Strategy and Strategic Cost Management

CASE STUDY 3

Identification of Core Competence of Educational Institution

In a small town called Vellore in South Indian State of Tamilnadu, there is now one famous deemed university called the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT). Its founder, Mr. Viswanathan, has adopted a unique model of building formidable Core Competencies. He has made huge investments in creating world-class infrastructure, which has attracted the best minds as students not only from various parts of India but also from other countries of the world, including developed countries like Canada and several African nations. What has really mattered is that the quality of teaching has improved, as VIT has been able to conduct very regularly, has opened up many vistas of knowledge and opened up many doors, in the international arena, through very innovative tie-ups with foreign universities. In fact, VIT is just one example of a deemed university that has made India proud. Since, it supplies high quality information technology professionals to all companies. The campus recruitments are one hundred per cent. This has made it a very formidable learning centre in India.

There are few tests useful for identifying a core competence. Does it fit to VIT?

Answer:

There are few tests useful for identifying a core competence. A core competence should; 

(i) Provide access to a wide variety of markets. 

(ii) Contribute significantly to the end-product benefits. 

(iii) Be difficult for competitors to imitate; and 

(iv) It should be valuable.

Source: Suggested Answers - December 2013 by ICAI