Spinning a good yarn: the identification of core competencies at Courtaulds

For the third time in Courtauld's long history, the firm may have stumbled on to a new cellulosic fibre with considerable commercial potential. In this, as in the preceding cases, the basic chemistry that led to the discovery of the fibre was carried out outside the firm. Also, as in the preceding cases, the firm took what was a laboratory product and developed it to the point where it could be exploited commercially. It was during this scaling up process that Courtaulds came to understand the new fibre's many potential applications. This paper, building on academic research currently in progress at Courtaulds, explores the hypothesis that the firm has a core competence in chemical engineering, the process of moving a new product from the laboratory bench into different markets. The competence involves managing a paradox: development has to focus on a series of quite specific and often quite limited product applications while scaling up has to allow for a product's generic potential. In effect what must b...