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Show i 6S The Salt Lake Tribune, Sanday, February 16, 1986 B3 Tr ,n The Gores unusual approach has led to dramatic success THE NEXT TIME YOU SEE SOMEONE slip into a colorful Gore-Tebrain-chil- d of a Utah couple jacket, realize they are putting to use the whose management plans have challenged the traditions of corporate America. Gore-Teis the namesake of Bill and Vieve Gore, and their ideas about business suddenly have become as fashionable as the fabric their company manufactures. The recognition is a nice finish to a remarkably successful career a career that began more than 50 years ago when Bill Gore, a native of Alpine, was a student at Westminster College interested in chemistry and an East High School student named Genevieve Walton. Westminster gave him a scholarship and his start. Genevieve Walton, or Vieve as she is called, became his wife and business partner. Bill Gore is now one of Westminsters most successful alumni, Bill and Vieve Gore are still very much in love and the company they founded in the basement of their home is stunningly prosperous. Now in its 28th year, W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. has annual sales of more than $300 million, 4,000 associates and 35 plants worldwide. Only four years ago, the company had sales of $125 million, 2,000 associates and 20 plants. The companys sales have grown at least 35 percent a year since 1976. This is why the Gores ideas about business suddenly have become downright trendy. Yet when the Gores talk about business, they talk about freedom, responsibility, creativity and human potential. And W.L. Gore & Associates is an oddity in the corporate world. The company has no titles or bosses Employees are equals and are called associates. The system has been likened to corporate anarchy and is as unique as Gore-Te- x itself. The Gores unusual approach to management has not gone unnoticed g John Naisbitt, the author of the book Megatrends, begins his new book, Reinventing the Corporation, discussing W.L. Gore & Asso-x x I? i - i H is most recognized for its use in Gore-Te- x sleeping bags (above), jackets and best-sellin- other recreational gear. Vascular grafts (right) are also made from Gore-Te- bon cable Rib- x. for electri- cal wiring (middle) is the top seller for W.L. r Gore & wiatraaibwit nmn inm |
