Strengths
The first and most apparent strength of the W.L. Gore company is its diversity of products. The company is able to market to a variety of industries on a global level, including electronics, medical industry, IT, aeronautics, and telecommunications. This diversity affords the company some protection financially should there be any negativity in a given market segment.
Another important strength of the company is its strong growth and financial performance over the long-term. According to the information presented, it has been profitable for 37 years and has consistently ranked in the top 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies for return on assets and sales.
One final strength that W.L. Gore possesses is its large quantity of patents, proprietary intellectual information, and trade secrets. Having high-tech products with this sort of piece attached to it effectively creates a barrier of entry for competitors. This, in turn, helps the company strengthen its market share.
Weaknesses
The main limitation that W.L. Gore faces revolves around that fact that their products stem from a single source of technology – PTFE. By working only with this substance, the company limits itself to some degree because of its dependency on PTFE. I think this limits the company’s future potential for growth, especially if competitors begin to use some more advanced variation of the product or if industries in which W.L. Gore is present begin using better technology.
Another weakness is the company’s size as compared to its competitors. Additional research outside of the article indicated some of its competitors are companies like Worthington Industries and 3M, both of which are many times larger than W.L. Gore. This may limit its ability to compete effectively at some point.
Opportunities
An area for opportunity and growth was mentioned in the information while relating a story regarding product champions at the organization. W.L. Gore was trying a