BUSINESS in Kent is missing out on the opportunity to get in front of its competitors and staying there.

The secret of building and sustaining a winning advantage is through better management of performance with the best managed achieving three times the level of sales of their competitors.

That is the strong message from Stephen Clark, director of Ashford-based business consultancy HRXL. He says: "In the past, access to funding, access to technology, economies of scale all produced real and sustainable competitive advantage.

"In today's economy these factors have become `table stakes'. You have to have them in order to compete but they are not enough to differentiate you from the competition.

"Competitive advantage now is about how you manage the performance of the people in your business."

Research shows that managing performance well makes a measurable difference in sales per employee, the top rated organisations performed three times better that the bottom rated ones.They also achieved significantly higher return on assets and market value.

He said: "The message is an encouraging one, by concentrating effort on how the people in your business are managed you can build a competitive advantage that will last."

Full details are on the website www.hrxl.co.uk or by calling 01233 649219.