Abstract: Some ways including literature retrieval, behavioral event interview (BEI), questionnaire survey and multivariate statistics were used to explore the competency model of top managers of state-owned enterprises in China's northeastern old industrial base. The data about 260 relevant top managers were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A model was thus developed to characterize their competence in view of the following nine categories, i.e. the personnel maturity, strategical decision-making ability, thinking of conceptual analysis, team leadership, coordinating/controlling ability, communicating ability, discernment, influenceability and motivation.