Case Analysis of W.L. Gore

Introduction to Engineering Management

W.L. Gore - Case Questions

1. What is it about the Gore organizational culture that keeps it a leader in innovation and creativity?

Since they are hiring the person and not to fill a specific job position, it keeps the people flexible and innovative.

2. What problems would a newly hired person have working for Gore?

A newly added employee is not given specific direction of where to go and what to do. Instead the Gore Company promotes creative thinking and the employee places himself where he thinks he needs to be. If you do not have imagination about your job then you might be sitting at a desk for a month wondering what in the world you should be doing. Sometimes employees cannot understand this and must leave the company.

3. What advantages does the Gore culture provide in a dynamic world?

When management and employees are flexible, they are quicker to respond to the external business changes than someone that is static. The world will always have new demands for specific products and Gore can deliver with their fast paced change system.

Background

Gore is an organic management system with a flat hierarchy that incorporates a lattice structure. They have few written rules with their focus along the lines of a narrow competitive scope but unique in advantage. This gives them a focused differentiation according to Porter's competitive strategies.

Identification of Issues

Gore does not have defined job titles besides President and Secretary/Treasurer and as they enlarge as a whole, this could create a problem with internal struggles of power between two or more people/departments.

Analysis and Evaluation

The external environ market is defined by Gore itself and has an unlimited scope. They have invented new items and define their own markets with the niche

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