W L Gore Case

W L Gore - Culture of Innovation Presented by: Aditya Agarwal(271122) Mohit Mudgal(271147) Sagar Dua(271157) Sakshi Lodha(271158) Sejal Jain(271162) Yash Khandelwal (271178)

Introduction ● Formed by Wilbert L Gore in 1958 with the vision of making a bureaucracy free zone ● In 2011, ranked among “100 best companies to work for” for the 14th time ● As of 2012, the company spread across 30 countries with over 9500 employees ● Company’s first product was multi-tet insulated wire and cable ● First big order of 7.5 miles of insulated ribbon from Denver Water Company got the company running ● Discovered the polymer PTFE that was strong ,porous and versatile with applications in shoes , gloves, headgear and outdoor sports activities. This product made the company famous ● It had a metaphor “the Gore Ship” because if any decision made below the waterline can take the whole company down

How things were at W L Gore ● It had no hierarchy, thus everyone was free to talk to everyone else ● They believed in equality. They had no bosses, supervisors or vice president ● People were free to choose what they wanted to work on, and no tasks were assigned ● If someone said “I will do this”, it was considered a near-sacred oath ● The company had no “core” business ● They still managed to deliver consistent growth and show profitability

About ● Four major divisions- Fabrics, Electronic products, Medical products & Industrial Products ● Focused on unique and valuable products (no me-too products) ● Low turnover compared to peers around 5% ● Revenue of company - 3 billion ● Everyone had same designation i.e associate ● Policy documents were not strictly followed, since every situation was different ● Seemed to have a divisional structure on the surface, but

underneath was a flat lattice organization- self commitment, natural leadership and lack of authority

Culture ● Strong emphasis on culture, ahead of its employees and products ● Management philosophy guided by ○ ○

● ● ● ●

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs McGregor’s The Human SIde of Enterprise (Theory X and Theory Y)

Problem solving approach Strong focus on networking and building relationships No hierarchy of communications Guiding Principles ○ ○ ○ ○

Freedom Fairness Commitment Waterline

Leadership ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Gore cherished the notion of distributed leadership Leadership without authority was earned over time Decentralized working environment Cross-functional working groups Extreme freedom and autonomy Hiring was very crucial; Cultural fit and values prefered over technical fit No delegation of tasks; Associates voluntarily committed to the projects they want to take

● Associates had to earn dabble

time to pursue their own purpose

Setup for Success