core competency

American  

Or core competence

noun

1. a skill needed in order to be successful at a job or other activity.

   Several core competencies have been identified as critical to the success of every student.

2. a particular area of knowledge or expertise that gives a business a competitive advantage.

   The automaker's core competency is sports cars.

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Etymology

Origin of core competency

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

Threading the needle between investors’ need for information and a company’s ability to focus on its core competency isn’t easy—but in some ways the SEC’s proposal fails at both.

From Barron's

Slowinski also noted that financial analysis appears to be a core competency for OpenAI’s newest GPT-5.4 model, marking another challenge to Anthropic’s enterprise strongholds.

From MarketWatch

On the frontiers of capitalism, nurturing relationships with government officials is often a core competency, or even an existential imperative.

From Salon

Political savvy isn’t a required core competency in the infantry.

From Los Angeles Times

"The expectation is that the growth of mergers and acquisitions in the next couple of years will be high and that has been Pick's core competency so we view it as a good move," said Brian Mulberry, client portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, which held Morgan Stanley stock in the past.

From Reuters