Parque Tec developed a standardized and integrated diagnostic and analysis method that evaluates the entrepreneur’s competences, regarding the following three main aspects:

• Human competences as businessman/-woman;
• Technological attributes of the products or services; and
• The company’s competitive base in the context of its specific market niche.

The central concept of this integrated analysis method is competitiveness, as it is conceptualized in the business administration literature and used by authors like Michael Porter, Peter Drucker, and Bill Gates.

What factors make an entrepreneur competitive? (Human Development)

What factors make a product or service competitive? (Technological Validation)

What factors make a company competitive? (Innovation and Business Strategy)

The answers to each of these questions constitute the entrepreneur’s “Competitiveness Polygon” ”, which is a graphical representation, in an Excel spread-sheet, and is also known as the “entrepreneur’s spider web” or the “entrepreneur’s radar”.

Each of these three dimensions (human, technological, and business) are analyzed by considering 10 elements of competence, which are evaluated, according to their degree of fulfillment, on a scale of 6 levels (from A to F, where A is the optimal level and F is the lowest level of competence).

The main elements of competence of the three dimensions are:

Elements of Human Competence

1. Entrepreneurial spirit
Is the capacity and proactive behavior that allows the full development of the business. Setting high organizational objectives and having clarity when confronting difficult situations.

 
2. Effective communication
Is the ability to express the own ideas and to understand other stakeholders in clear and effective way. Entails the use of emotional and rational contents, both, on a verbal and non-verbal level.

3. Leadership 
Is the ability to deal with the other stakeholders by transmitting a catching vision, reaching commitment and action by the followers, and establishing clear limits for the group behavior.

4. Creativity
Is the constant tendency to do new things that makes it easier to reach the objectives. Involves the possibility of generating novel solutions, which arise from the capacity of visualizing the problems from different angles and new perspectives.

5. Ability to work in a group 
Is the capacity of being satisfactorily integrated into a group, identifying with the objectives, and contributing with information and action that benefit the common tasks.

6. Achievement-oriented
Is the preference for setting challenging targets and struggling to fulfill them. Competes, under a system of ethical rules, with the standards of excellence and seeks the organizational success and personal superseding.

7. Client-oriented
Is the interest in providing a service that is fully focused on the immediate and complete satisfaction of the clients’ necessities, both, internal and external. It constitutes a strategy for the well-being of the institution, based on the capacity of listening to other stakeholders, specially the clients, and having a positive attitude, empathy, dedication, and respect.

8. Ability to interpersonal relations 
Is the capacity of showing respect, empathy, ease in understanding the feelings and thoughts of the other stakeholders, and willingness to help, according to the necessities, when establishing social contacts.

9. Resilience to frustration 
Is the capacity of withstanding difficulties or the impossibility of reaching determined objectives, resulting from own mistakes, others’ mistakes, or adverse circumstances. This ability entails the aptitude of analyzing and learning from the occurred, with the objective of regaining the initiative.

10. Commercially proactive
Is the attitude of permanent efforts to reach the established objectives, by taking personal risks and showing a flexible behavior based on a common-sense. Additionally, to be firm in the behavior and to act rapidly in situations when one would normally wait for others to solve the problems.

Elements of Product Competitiveness 

1. Innovation
The entrepreneur has developed a product that differs, in terms of essential and non-essential functions, form the products of the rivals or substitute products.

2. Quality of the design
The design of the software’s components and interface architecture satisfy the industrial standards and has the capacity of interacting with other components.

3. Efficiency
The product meets the industrial metrics, regarding the time of execution and demand of computer resources.

4. Resilience to failures
The use of all software components neither jeopardizes the functionality of the product, nor affects the environment under which it is running.

5. Security
During transactions, communication, and data management the product maintains control of the internal risks and those related to the operative environment.

6. Flexibility / Scalability
The product allows the incorporation of new functions or the increase of the number of users or concurrent transactions, with a minimum increase of time and resources and without any lost of efficiency.

7. Usability
The product can be used easily and intuitively (user friendly) and supports an online help-function. It also contains error-messaging that guides the user through the solving-process of an eventual problem.

8. Tools
The programming of the software meets the industrial standards by using the appropriate programming language, standardized databases, solid DBMS, and appropriate communication protocols.

9. Compatibility
The product can be run on the most important platforms (Windows, Linux, Solaris, etc.) with a minimum of requirements (time and resources).

10. Documentation
The product has updated (and immediately available) information for its maintenance, installation, and application by the user.

Elements of Business and Entrepreneurial Competitiveness

1. Technological strategy
This element focuses on the design and implementation of a business’ and technological plan, which is closely related to innovation processes and the business development. These plans are developed with the assistance of Parque Tec’s consultants.

2. Organization of research and development (R+D)
The main objective of this factor is the incorporation of an R+D organization that meets the requirements of the companies and organizations that have been identified as the target markets.

3. Product development process
It is preferred that each entrepreneur possesses a well-defined and structured product development process that closely relates to Parque Tec’s marketing activities and takes the clients’ requirements into account.

4. Innovation of service delivery processes (assistance and maintenance)
In order to increasingly satisfy the clients’ demands, this factor considers that the entrepreneurs need a well-defined assistance and maintenance process based on a general quality assurance strategy.

5. Measuring innovation
Each incubated company should possess a measuring system to evaluate the innovation performance. They incorporate indicators like number of clients (segments), product development time, sales, and client satisfaction, among others.

6.  Technological and business collaboration
This component considers the evaluation of the internal and external collaboration network that allows joining forces for the development of competitive products and services.

7. Capacity management
This factor evaluates to what extent the entrepreneur has identified the technological competences and capacities required for his/her business and how far they have been incorporated into a development plan.

8. Project management
The entrepreneur should use specific project management processes that include advanced planning and control instruments.

9. Competitive and technological alertness
Both, the entrepreneur and Parque Tec should possess a system and processes that monitor the rivalry, the technologies that impact on the target markets, and the tendencies that might affect the development of the incubated businesses.

10.  Sales management
Each entrepreneur should have a portfolio of 50 clearly identified clients that are regularly provided with new products or services. The aim is to meet a pre-established sales target.

Based on the results from the diagnosis, the integrated analysis of the different competence elements allows aligning the improvement plans and their monitoring to the integrated objectives and the identified causality, priority, and power relationships. This will serve the coaching advisors and entrepreneurs to strengthening the competitiveness of the entrepreneurs, their companies, and their products or services.