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 …show more content…
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
Todd Wates, now 28 years old, has been treated for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) since he was eight years old. He currently resides with his mother Sarah, and father Anthony, in a two-bedroom apartment close to the hospital where he receives treatment.
4- The committee and Ms Beckel decided to include a religious studies curriculum in the program. The principal approved of it. However, Ms Wright one of the community members did not. She threatened to show up at the committee meeting with the media. On the day of the meeting, Ms Wright showed up with a placard protesting the use of the bible in public schools.
Owens & Minor is a distributor of surgical and medical supplies to hospitals and other health care facilities. Due to changing demand from customers, the company is facing increased operating costs, which has resulted in lower profit margins and even losses. In 1993, O&M recorded an $18 million profit, which was reduced to a loss of $11 million in 1995. The entire industry is experiencing similar difficulties. In an effort to resume profitability, O&M is evaluating alternatives to “cost-plus pricing”. Cost-plus pricing does not reflect the true cost of the services provided by O&M. Customers are demanding more of O&M while
Sparkle Company is a Nigerian diamond mining company. Sparkle is a joint venture, 50 percent owned by Shine and 50 percent owned by Brighten. Both Shine and Brighten are U.S.-based companies with their functional currency being the American dollar. Sparkle Companies functional currency is that of Nigeria, being the Naira. During 2009, Sparkle had several transactions with its joint venture owners and outside parties. The details of Sparkle’s transactions are three loans, three expenditures, and one revenue stream. The loans the company took out were $1 million from Brighten, $1 million from Shine, and 300 million Naira from a local Nigerian bank. The expenditures
What alternatives are available to Brent in regards to the audit of payables? What are the pros and cons of each alternative?
ASC 320-10-35-33F: “Changes in the quality of the credit enhancement should be considered when estimating whether a credit loss exists and the period over which the debt security is expected to recover.”
Black & Decker Corporation is a corporation based in Towson, Maryland, United States, that designs and imports power tools and accessories, hardware and home improvement products, and technology based fastening systems.
Build the management-research question hierarchy, through the investigative questions stage. Then compare your list with the measurement questions asked.
3.) The estimated product costs for valves, pumps, and flow controllers using ABC for overhead activities (primarily Ex. 1 & 4) and direct cost data from the Exhibits are:
Young Professional magazine was developed for a target audience of recent college graduates who are in their first 10 years in a business/professional career. In its two years of publication the magazine has been fairly successful. Now the publisher is interested in expanding the magazine’s advertising base. Potential advertisers continually ask about the demographics and interests of subscribers to Young Professional. To collect this information the magazine has commissioned a survey to develop a profile of its subscribers. The survey results will be used to help the magazine choose articles of interest and provide advertisers with a profile of subscribers. As a new employee of the magazine, you have been
Jones-Blair needs to increase their sales while keeping their margins consistent with limited resources on advertising and sales promotion.
This case discusses Cross-Border valuation of projects. This kind of analysis is common for companies that are operating in many countries. Groupe Ariel is one such company that is considering investing in a project in its own subsidiary in Mexico. The company manufactures and sells printers, copiers and other document production equipment in many countries. As far as, expansion into new markets is concerned, company is very slow in taking initiatives as compared to its competitors owing to the recent recession. But the management of the company believes that better durability and lower after-sales service costs of their products enable
When USAA started in 1922, they were a property and casualty insurance company however, with time they expanded their services to their members and became a financial institution.
Gore's competency to attain innovation can be traced from the company's culture where employees are encouraged to feel free, collaborate through self-motivation, and communicate among themselves. Gore's innovation stems from contributions made by flexible working schedules allocated to employees. Gore has granted all employees one day off per week in order to pursue their personal commitments (Hamel & Breen, 2007). New employees at Gore are put into wider roles, which include business development leaders or R&D engineers and not other narrowly defined jobs. In order to assist the new recruits to be at their best, each is allocated a guide who gives the newcomer guidelines on the norms of the organization. Instead, bosses are teams, which are made by associates. In this case, tasks are only accepted and are never assigned, but associates dedicate and commit themselves because this is the only way they are measured. This is a voluntary commitment, and many find it hard to keep up with it and opt to leave (Deutschman, 2007).
W.L. Gore and Associates is a privately owned company which has continually turned a profit over its 50 plus year history. This Company’s management was designed on a lattice based structure, with no management layers or organizational charts. W.L. gore has leaders not bosses and for new hires it has sponsors. They believe in commitments instead of assignments and create and environment in which employees are free to experiment and is energizing and demanding. Even through this companies growth they have maintains a sense of unity and collegiality. W.L Gore is clearly a company which will continue on into the future because they have unlocked the fundamentals to management innovation.