W. L. Gore
Bill Gore started the W. L. Gore Company in his basement when he left DuPont to develop innovative uses for Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE), the then-new non-stick plastic. Today, W. L. Gore is best known for Gore-Tex, a waterproof, windproof, and temperature-resistant fabric that breathes and does not trap perspiration

and body heat. Marketed as “Guaranteed to Keep You Dry,” GoreTex is used not only for coats, gloves, and camping and hiking gear but also for protective outerwear worn by firefighters and military, emergency, and medical personnel. But in recent years Gore-Tex sales have steadily declined. One reason is that a number of alternative fabrics, like Entrant GII and eVENT, work nearly as well but cost only $6 to $8 per yard compared to
$15 to $30 per yard for Gore-Tex. So the challenge for W. L. Gore is to reduce its dependence on Gore-Tex, which accounts for 21% of its $1.6 billion in revenues, by coming up with ways to consistently develop innovative products in other areas.
In general, W. L. Gore goes for dramatic rather than incremental improvements. On its web site, it declares, “At Gore, we take our reputation for product leadership seriously, continually delivering new products and better solutions to the world. Gore's products are designed to be the highest quality in their class and revolutionary in their effect.”
Gore has created a number of innovative products, including Glide dental floss, the first floss that didn’t shred, tear, and get caught in your teeth. Gore used its expertise in stretched plastics to essentially create a thin, Teflon-like tape used as dental floss. Glide was soon the number two floss in the market and today is the number one floss recommended by dental professionals. Gore then sold Glide to Procter & Gamble. But since Gore still makes Glide for P&G, Gore continues to make substantial profits that it then reinvests in other innovative products such as CleanStream filters, which filter dirt particles out of the air before it comes out of your vacuum cleaner; Radome, which is used to cover microwave transmission sites (think of the large “golf ball” structures you sometimes see around airports); medical stent-grafts, stents that are attached to an aorta to treat aortic aneurysms; and many more.
Gore has also been innovative in the processes it uses to develop new products. The company frequently asks potential customers for help when designing new products (i.e., design iterations and testing). When Gore engineer Dave Myers was developing Elixir, Gore’s bestselling acoustic guitar strings, which are coated with a thin layer of plastic that avoids the accumulation of dust, microscopic layers of skin (from musicians’ fingers), and dirt and oil, all of which affect musical quality and sound, he talked to Chuck Hebestreit, another Gore engineer who played the guitar. They, in turn, asked experienced guitar players to give them feedback on the product. Steve Young, who
now heads Elixir products for Gore, said, “We gave it to guitar players to try out, and they were amazed that it [meaning the guitar sound] didn't go dead [unlike regular guitar strings].” Why? Because, thanks to their resistance to dust, skin, dirt, and oil, Elixir guitar strings last five times as long as normal guitar strings. Elixir guitar strings now have a 35% share of the market.
Gore also provides flexible options for innovation by making “time for dabbling.” What this means is that everyone in the company is encouraged to spend 10% of their time on new ideas or products. If those ideas have potential, a Gore “sponsor,” typically a more senior person, will guide and coach that employee on how to further advance their ideas or products. When ideas or innovations are to the point where further development requires a significant investment by the company, they are reviewed by a multifunctional team that goes through an exercise called
“Real, Win, Worth.” Gore’s former CEO Chuck Carroll explained how this works: “Is the opportunity real? Is there really somebody out there that will buy this? Can we win? What do the economics look like? Can we make money doing this? Is it unique and valuable? Can we have a sustained advantage [such as a patent]?”

-Refer to Gore. Elixir, Gore's acoustic guitar string, is coated with a thin layer of plastic that avoids the accumulation of dust, microscopic layers of skin (from musician's fingers), and dirt and oil, all of which affect musical quality and sound. To develop Elixir, Gore employees used___________ .
A) transitional innovation
B) compression design
C) dominant design
D) incremental change
E) self-initiated design

When Incremental Improvements Are Made to a Dominant Technological Design

Multiple Choice

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