W hat’s the cu rren t state of co re competence of Ch ina’s en terp rises? Is it the sou rce of su stainab le compet it ive advan tage? These are key issues that bo th the academ ics and p ract it ioners pay at ten t ion to. Based on the def in it ion of co re competence, a m easu rem en t system of co re competence is p rovided. Then a quest ionnaire su rvey w as o rgan ized. Fo rty one qualif ied responded quest ionnaires f rom 33 f irm s are received. The stat ist ic analysis based these quest ionnaire show s that co re competence is the sou rce of su stainab le advan tages. P rof itab ility and grow th of a f irm depend on it s co re competence. Ch ina’s en terp rises have experienced the st rategic co re competence and o rgan izat ional co re competence based compet it ion. In the nex t stage, they wou ld compete based on techno logical co re competence.