The core competence of tomorrow's e-commerce successes will be the ability to change quickly, a skill perhaps even more valuable than knowledge of any particular market.

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In assessing the value of a senior health-service manager or council chief, for example, the line between core competence and bonus-worthy brilliance might be hard to define.

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It also needs a good grasp of the firm's core competence: in this instance, knowing lots about yeast, a common factor in all of Kikkoman's activities.

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Federalists deplore the proposed overriding of a core competence of states.

ECONOMIST: Gay marriage

However, with the ongoing restructuring, the company seems to be regaining focus on its core wireless competence and is also looking to upstage Huawei by the end of 2013.

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The game is moving towards data structure, where Lucent has no core competence.

ECONOMIST: Telecoms equipment

But as long as the House of Windsor plc remains in the head-of-state business, it has to keep an eye on its core competence: being born, being non-political, and simply being there.

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Hedging strategies Enron's supposed core competence that work well in rising markets can break down when prices fall, especially when the hedger has a net long position, as Enron apparently did.

ECONOMIST: Enron's fall