CORPORATE CULTURE OF GORE & ASSOCIATES

Corporate Culture of Gore & Associates

The company was founded in 1958 by Wilbert L. Gore (called Bill) and his wife Genevieve in Newark in Delaware. Gore was a research engineer at DuPont. His son, Robert W. Gore, discovered that under certain conditions, the polytetra fluoro ethylene (PTFE) could create a very strong material and very specific properties. Nowadays, this material is used in industry, new-generation electronics, medical products and specialty fabrics. For the invention of Gore-Tex, Robert W. Gore was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006 (Anfuso, 2001).

Corporate culture of Gore

This could be a synthesis of unique corporate culture of WL Gore & Associates. With a high degree of creativity and innovation through flat hierarchies and the unorthodox application of the concept of leadership, the company founder Bill Gore had the vision to promote a model of management to take full advantage of the creativity and potential innovative person; because I was convinced we could do without the common methods of monitoring and control. A flexible culture where team partners could grow and expand strengths individually, promoting the creation of innovative solutions and new inventions (Wilbert, 2008). Through this unique approach Bill Gore wanted to assert and expand the leadership role of technology in the new enterprise. In principle, this unique business concept can be considered somewhat exotic, but the story of success of products resulting from the implementation of it has earned wide respect and recognition from the world of business (Anfuso, 2001).

The guiding principle of Bill Gore is based on the belief that people work best in a team where no one feels superior, and where everyone is closely connected with each other. All interactions take place at the same level in a network structure like a lattice. All employees are members of the company as entrepreneurs and have a stake in the company through ownership of shares under a plan introduced in the seventies. The world Gore is based on a network of units where each is small enough to allow direct communication. This concept requires some investment in infrastructure and, as underlined Javier Duran, CEO of WL Gore & Associates Inc.: "The main advantage of the system is the personal atmosphere at work. As experienced Bill Gore, a plant with a size in a range from 150 to 250 members is the magical boundary to make communication more efficient (Anfuso, 2001). "

Professional life within the culture Gore is certainly a challenge. Not everyone will find it easier to work in this environment of freedom and flat hierarchies, but undoubtedly this type of work is very attractive, as evidenced by its position in the list of "Best Company to Work For." Gore is included in the list of "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" ??by Fortune magazine since it began using the list in 1984. In Europe Gore also takes special places in the "Best Places to Work" in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden ...