Question

What are the barriers to imitating the distinctive competencies of Delta?

Answer 1

ANS. A distinctive competency is an organization’s strengths or qualities including skills, technologies, or resources that distinguish it from competitors to provide superior and unique customer value and, hopefully, is difficult to imitate. A distinctive competency is a competency unique to a business organization, a competency superior in some aspect than the competencies of other organizations, which enables the production of a unique value proposition in the function of the business. A distinctive competency is the basis for the development of an unassailable competitive advantage. The uniqueness differentiates this competency from all others, whether a core competency or simply a competency.

Distinctive competencies, the basis for competitive advantage, can come from technology, industry position, market relations, cost, business processes, manufacturing processes, people, customer satisfaction, or just being first.

The insightful integration of complementary elements of the business model is the strongest form of competitive advantage known. This is because it is so difficult for competitors to understand and even more difficult to replicate, especially when the business model elements of value, purpose, vision, culture, and identity are intertwined in a powerful business solution.

Within the airline industry, luxury can easily be duplicated by competition, making it only a short-lived amenity before becoming a staple throughout the various carriers.

Technology within the airline industry does not stay proprietary for very long, meaning that all carriers soon adopt the new method to stay competitive with one another.

Employee loyalty is very hard to imitate since it is a perception rather than a physical thing that a competing firm can reproduce.