W. L. Gore Case Analysis

W. L. Gore Case Analysis

Although the name W. L. Gore & Associates may not seem familiar to the ear, in all actuality, its products are some of the most well-known in existence. W. L. Gore is famous for its pioneering work with the polytetrafluoroethylene polymer, which lies as the backbone for many of Gore’s products, including its most famous, Gore-Tex. Founded on January 1, 1958, by the husband and wife team of Bill and Vieve Gore in the basement of their home, W. L. Gore & Associates has expanded internationally to a workforce of over 6,000 associates in 45 locations, with sales volume of over $1.84 billion last fiscal year. For thirty-five straight years the company has enjoyed profitability and constant positive return on equity, and from 1969 to 1989 had a compounded revenue growth rate of over 18 percent. Today, the company’s products can be found everywhere, including the automotive, aerospace, chemical processing, electronic, manufacturing, healthcare, military, and textile industries, with key products such as membrane vents, surgical products, aircraft sealant, outerwear garments. In addition, W. L. Gore & Associates is organized in an very unique and unusual way; there are no �bosses’ or set management. Instead, every member of the company is labeled as an �associate’ (besides Bob and Vieve Gore, who hold the titles of president and secretary-treasurer, respectively), and it is the responsibility of associates to pursue opportunities and assume responsibility. As of today, W. L. Gore has many opportunities to grasp and threats to prevent approaching in the near future. As W. L. Gore stands as the ’name-brand’ in many industries with its quality reputation and Gore-Tex line, it holds the responsibility to break new ground in the areas of polytetrafluoroethylene technology as well as to take preventative measures to keep its role as king of the hill in several major industries. In order to hold their place as the dominant seller in their favored industries, W. L. Gore & Associates must choose between advancing as a technological pioneer or cutting costs and becoming the lowest priced provider available. If they were to pursue the first route, it may be to their advantage to expand their research and development departments, as well as reorganize the way they market their products. On the other hand, if W. L. Gore & Associates felt that the more prudent course of action would be to become the most competitively priced provider, the company would need to seek out and reduce superfluous costs more efficiently.

Throughout the history of the company, W. L. Gore & Associates has always worked as a single living and constantly adapting unit. With its unique organizational structure, the company functions more like a tight-knit family than its corporate counterparts. In many ways this has proven itself quite effective; for example, Bill Gore claimed that patent applications and innovative products outputted by his company was triple that of Du Pont, exemplifying the effects of the heightened levels of freedom and creativity in the Gore workplace. In this system, employees are encouraged to perform their best, as every employee shares the same general title, and are compensated based purely on their performance. This also enables the most competent and eager employees to more quickly advance to their more suitable leadership positions, increasing the efficiency of the company. Ultimately, W. L. Gore & Associates has been the groundbreaker in most of the areas they have pursued as a business, often being the first and only company producing certain niche products for years. This repeatedly has created a semi-monopolistic advantage for the company in emerging industries such as that of the legendary Gore-Tex outerwear, at least until the patents ran out. Simply put, W. L. Gore & Associates have had the technological advantage over their competitors throughout the history of the company. Another way the W. L. Gore & Associates has excelled is at keeping its company on a �tight-ship’ - in other words, the company has kept itself almost completely debt-free. As apposed to constantly juggling long-term loans and losing large amounts of profits in interest, Gore has only taken out long-term debt when it has been a smart decision, such as some industrial revenue bonds, which basically allow banks to lend money tax-free for certain uses. Conclusively, with a bit of luck on the part of the Gore family in essentially inventing the product that would shape their business for decades at its birth, and the unique corporate structure and responsible financial planning of the company, W. L. Gore & Associates has become one of the most profitable businesses in the world.

Although W. L. Gore & Associates has obviously experienced raging success throughout most of its life, it still does not function smoothly on some levels. One such place where the company could stand to improve is the seemingly uncaring way it treats its new workers. While the open and relaxed environment of the company may allow some associates to excel, the workers that do not immediately adapt to the system are often left to fall through the cracks. Some additional goals or guidelines should be implemented when this is seen to be occurring in order prevent the loss and waste associated with losing a fully trained associate that may be quite useful to the company. In addition, W. L. Gore & Associates has more superfluous costs and projects than that of one of its counterparts. One such influencing factor in this is that the company is very hands-off about the way its associates choose to spend their work-time, often having the freedom to start projects and give themselves goals as they find appropriate. If the business set its goals and needs more clearly to its employees, it would most likely find them producing more profit than with little to no guidelines, although overall creativity may be affected. One such area the company would be able to more efficiently pursue if more specific goals and guidelines were set is that of research and development. W. L. Gore & Associates must now, more than ever before, pursue and achieve specific research goals in order to retain its position as one of the leading technologically advanced companies in each of its respective industries.

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