Communicating firm competencies: Marketing as different levels of translation

Recently, the notion of competence-based marketing and communication has been discussed as a way to avoid competing on price and to increase imitation barriers. This paper contributes to the discussion with the development of a model of firm capabilities and an understanding of when to use competence-based communication. It is argued that all market communication is competence-based but the content of communication and the marketing capability changes along the different waves of market orientation. Therewith, marketing is seen as translating firm competencies into customer language. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.