Case Study of Intrapreneurship Success – WL Gore Associates, Inc

W.L. ELIXER Guitar string line is an intrapreneurial success story of the WL Gore, Inc. (maker of Gore-Tex™), which was possible due to the WL Gore’s corporate policies aimed at fostering entrepreneurial thinking within the company. The “Dabble Time Policy” allowed Gore’s employees to spend 10% of their time at work on their own creative projects. This approach to the corporate culture proved to be successful over time as many exceptional products were developed by the WL Gore’s intrapreneurs including the Elixir guitar strings, now the top-selling acoustic guitar string.

Dave Myers, an employee in the WL Gore’s medical-product plant in Flagstaff, Arizona, was primarily working on inventing new types of plastic implants and, as a side project, he was trying to improve his mountain bike’s movement by coating its gears with a thick layer of plastic, which he thought would make the gears shift more smoothly. The experiments led to the creation of Gore’s Ride-On line of bike cables, which after was discontinued because it was not profitable. However, Myers was inspired by his innovation and started working on improving the puppet cables at Disney World and Chuck E. Cheese’s. In order to control oversized animated puppets, the cables with small diameters were necessary, so Dave Myers tried coating guitar strings with plastic for this purpose. Suddenly, it struck him that he could make a new guitar string using a Gore coating.

Because did not have expertise in guitars, Myers went to search an advice from another Gore’s employee who was a guitarist. Chuck Hebestreit realized the old – existing problem of the guitar players who would experience a dampened and unpredictable sound after as tiny debris of dirt and natural oils from guitarist’s fingers accumulated on the guitar strings. Myers ad Hebestreit concluded that by coating the strings for longer better sound and longer useful life that they could quickly take a major market share of the guitar string market. After the project has been approved by the Gore’s management, the Elixir strings were produced. Despite their expensive price, the costumers enjoyed the superior quality of the Elixir strings and soon this Gore’s product became the number one selling string in the world.

As WL Gore’s employees dabble in different industries and collaborate with their colleagues, they continue to produce innovative products that revolutionize the industries in which Gore operates. The Gore’s entrepreneurial approach to its corporate culture helped this company to launch a wide variety of products and successfully enter a large number of markets ranging from dental floss to Gore-Tex fabrics, and from heart patches to synthetic blood vessels.

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References:

Haller, Howard E. "Intrapreneurship Success – Case Study – WL Gore Associates, Inc (Makers of Gore Rain Gear) | Intrapreneurship Institute." | Intrapreneurship Institute. 2008. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.
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Harrington, A 2003, ‘Who’s afraid of a new product?’, Fortune, 10 November, vol. 148, issue 10,pp. 189-191.