Building a strategy on competences

This article explains how the Baan Company has evolved-room a one-man consulting firm to a very successful global provider of enterprise information systems software. From its inception, the company took several important decisions which were contrary to the normal way of building a software firm. These decisions included especially its building and leveraging of competences. The company has been able to create new competences and has accomplished its Own breakthroughs. The evolution of the Baan Company is analysed and discussed within a competence building and leveraging framework. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.