Purpose: The objective of the current study is to empirically investigate interrelationships among three variables; knowledge management (KM), core competence (CC), and firm competitiveness (FC), and to develop a framework based on empirical evidence for developing countries in South Asia. Design/Methodology: This is cross-sectional quantitative research having a stratified sample of 119 larger innovative manufacturing and service organizations in Pakistan. All hypothesized relationships were analyzed by employing SEM using AMOS version. 20. Findings: Results of the study confirmed the positive and significant influence of four constructs of knowledge management processes on four constructs of firm competitiveness (innovation, delivery, quality, and financial performance). Further, knowledge management significantly impacts the firm's competitiveness through the mediation of TOP core competence.

The target population for the current study was the managers or senior officers (top and middle level) of manufacturing and service organizations listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). Only targeted innovative sectors of PSX. The innovative nature of larger firms shows enough ability to create and use knowledge and invest more in KM activities to outperform (Sukumar et al., 2020). The researcher of the current project adopted a stratified sampling technique amongst a total of 210 innovative manufacturing and service companies listed. The companies' were divided into 5 strata as automobile (n=22), banks (n=20), food (n=22), textile (n=134), and pharmaceutical companies (n=12).