Corey Rosen

More On Gore

 

The article on W. L. Gore and Associates ("The Un-manager," August) was very informative, but left out one key fact: A substantial percentage of the company's stock is owned by the associates (that is, what other people would call the employees) through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Recently, Delaware issued a brochure on ESOPs highlighting the company's plan. The brochure notes that the company sees the employee ownership plan as an integral part of its success. In any company that relies as heavily as Gore does on the commitment of its employees, making the employees owners just makes good business sense.