Distinctive competences (Snow and Hrebiniak)

Charles Snow and Lawrence Hrebiniak examined how the competences managers believe their firms possess relate to strategic type and organisational performance. Their work asks a practical question: does the organisation have the capabilities required by the way it chooses to compete?

When to use it

Use the model to compare the firm’s strategic posture with the management, commercial, production and technical competences needed to support it.

Origins

Philip Selznick coined “distinctive competence” in 1957 to describe what an organisation does especially well relative to competitors. Raymond Miles and Charles Snow later developed a strategic typology of prospectors, defenders, analysers and reactors. Snow and Hrebiniak connected that typology with managers’ perceptions of distinctive competence and performance across several industries.

What it is

Strategic aggressiveness is not inherently good or bad. Performance depends on coherence between the chosen posture, the environment and the capabilities that execute it.

The definition from 1957 remains useful: a distinctive competence is something the organisation performs especially well compared with competitors.

Snow and Hrebiniak studied senior managers in plastics, semiconductors, automotive and air transportation. They examined four strategic patterns—prospector, defender, analyser and reactor—and the competences managers associated with each.

Aggressive and proactive strategies

Several strategies can work in the same industry. The critical condition is fit: the firm’s structure and distinctive competences must support its strategic posture.