Tonight, we heard from Dr. Begovac. What did you think of his perspective on international operations for the vascular technologies? I hope his reality was at least somewhat consistent with our class discourse. What leadership style does Gore seem to be taking in its operations?
I thought he was very good, and his perspective on international operations for vascular technology was pretty consistent with what we read and discussed about. However, it seems to me that as he was saying that as a company grows it becomes more difficult to maintain the same culture and structure across the entire organization, is that Gore is slowly deviating to a more typical type of organization. They seem to be moving toward the hierarchal structure as the years go by and they become larger.
ReplyDeleteI was great to have him in and he had some great ideas. I got a similar feeling that the lattice network is hard to maintain with their size and expansive global footprint. They still seem to have a netwrk structure but some heirarchy seems to exist.
DeleteI agree there is some sort of leadership structure. For instance he was the leadership structure for the product he was developing he was no in charge of overseeing and promoting it.
DeleteIt was my understanding they claim to be “lattice” while communicating with one another. I would agree they seem to be moving away from their major FSA, but they still believe they are lattice. I feel a lot the articles I’ve read about their culture are a bit out dated. I wonder if this is because they tend to be structured like more organizations we see today, which no longer makes them as interesting to study.
DeleteDr. Begovac was really interesting. He appeared very invested in his product and passionate about its success. He had very good information regarding the product and his experience in getting it to market. I didn't think he had a lot of information regarding international business in relationship to what we have learned in class. When questions were asked regarding topics we have learned in class he didn't have a lot of information to respond with. He is focused on engineering and the development of products. His background and experience didn't seem to translate well to the topics and ideas we are learning.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to underscore the point of Dr. Begovac’s passion coming through during his presentation. I always get very engaged when I hear someone speak about something they are passionate about. It was very obvious that Dr. Begovac remains invested and passionate about his work even 30+ years down the road. It’s little wonder that he has been such a great asset to Gore. I was very impressed with him.
DeleteI agree that he didn't have a lot of international experience at the company level, but he did have a few personal stories about adjusting to different cultures, which at the end of the day is what everyone has to do at some point.
DeleteI agree with JT he was very passionate about his work. You could tell he had spent so much time in developing and bringing this product to market he cares very much for the success of it. He didn't have much response though to the concepts in the class, he was more experienced around just his product.
DeleteDr Begovac was obviously very proud of the product. I agree and disagree that he had a pulse for the international market and happenings. He had a pretty good understanding of international business related to his product. He had a good understanding of what it took to take it across borders, cultural differences, regulation, and foreign policies. I don't think he had the grasp on what we have learned in class only due to he is the innovation guy and not the actual doing business guy, ie selling the product, penetrating new markets.
DeleteI enjoyed the session and found Dr. Begovac interesting. When asked about the challenges that Gore faces on the international front, he talked about the importance of understanding local cultures and norms. He also talked about educating other countries on the United States' point of view, but also understanding their point of view. Building strong relationships to build trust was also very important.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to hear him say that there is a leadership structure in the Lattice model. That is refreshing to hear because it was hard to fathom that there were large groups of people working together, communicating very well, but not being led by anyone. He also talked about the Lattice model not always being transferrable. In countries like Sweden, the model ticks; but in China, not so much.
Being able to see some of the products Gore produces was also interesting.
As an RN whose first job was working with highly acute cardiac patients I must say how impressed I was with innovation and quality of the products Dr. Begovac brought with him. It’s very exciting to see a company continue to push the envelope with medical products and have patient care/outcomes in mind. It was very obvious to me the engineering that has gone into the development for this has had patient care in mind. Things such as thinner and thrombosis resistant walls as well as remote deployed stents are amazing and allow for minimally invasive techniques which decrease recovery time and hence improved prognosis and costs.
DeleteYes I agree that being able to understand local culture and norms are very important as well. I would suggest to anyone to be able to go somewhere internationally and experience another culture. Its definitely not the only aspect necessary for international business, but its pretty important. I think its great that Westminster College have the international trips to give students better understanding of international business, because I think its something everyone should experience.
DeleteI'm glad that question came up. The context of the question was what is the most difficult challenge GORE faces in expanding on a national level. And it's almost like he didn't skip a beat when he went to the acculturation of the firm. I certainly thought it would be difficult, but didn't imagine that it would be the MOST difficult challenge in their expansion.
DeleteIt was very interesting to hear how being privately held has been so helpful. As expected they are able to look long term and avoid the short sighted nature of publicly traded companies. Their patience for employee pet projects is a piece of what has lead to their long term success.
ReplyDeleteI thought this as well. When companies are beholden to the whims of stockholders, who for the most part only care about immediate return it can stifle long term projects and creativity. Being privately owned definately seemed to help Gore in this regard, though he did mention that his president still expected results.
DeleteBeing privately held has really helped Gore become the company they are. If they expanded to public it would change the dynamics of the company, and I believe it would affect the quality of their products coming out.
DeletePet projects seem to make Gore what it is today. Allowing its employees to dedicate some time to their projects seems to also let those that are viable bubble to the top and teams to naturally form around them.
Delete“Dabble time” as Dr. Begovac called it, is likely a difficult innovation tool for other companies to replicate due to a fear by management that employees will take advantage and there will be nothing generating revenue. The technique supports staying privately held.
DeleteDr. B touched on the cultural aspect of international expansion. From his personal experience trust was the underlying factor of whether or not cultural differences between countries could be overcome in order to establish a successful partnership internationally. It sounded like Sweden and the United States have relative similar cultures which has contributed to a long-term successful partnership. Whereas, Asia Pacific culture's is very different than the US so entry into their market will be more challenging from a culture standpoint as well as regulation standpoint.
ReplyDeleteI think that Michele touched on a key element of expansion, trust. It was interesting that Dr. B indicated that this was a big part of why his relationship with the acquired company was able to work as well as it did, and is. In my experience in working with people from other countries, it seems that if you can gain another person's (or company's) trust, that will help to break down cultural barriers that may exist.
DeleteOne of the points I found incredibly fascinating is the delicate nature of obtaining product and regulation approval, especially with China. To hear Dr. Begovac speak about the challenges of not providing too much clinical or scientific data for fear of the data being “stolen” for local development was quite surprising. How challenging must it be to decide on what data to provide and what data not to provide in order to gain entry into certain international markets without IP being used for local competitors development?
ReplyDeleteI was recently reading an article about this in Bloomberg Businessweek that highlighted just how big of an issue this is. There has been scores of cases where individuals hired by Chinese firms are stealing IP from U.S. and European contries and as of now the Chinese government doesn't seem interested in stopping it. For a company like Gore I can see how China can be considered a huge new market but it does carry with it some significant risks.
DeleteYes, and if you think about it, every company wants to take advantage of the chinese market. This can be in case of selling their products in that market due to its size, or using their labor force due to its affordability. However, being able to take adavantage of this market also has its challenges, as Dr.Begovac mentioned. It really is a big problem, and the Chinese government probably is not very interested in stopping because it seems like we need them more than they need us at this time, so they will take advantage of that. This make it very difficult for any company, and its very unfair for those companies who have spent many years and thousands of dollars in order to gain an advantage.
DeleteI agree that was a very interesting point, where do you draw the line on how much intellectual data you give to them to expand in to other countries. It is a fine line you have to ride in business, and obviously Gore has done a great job of this.
DeleteI was dying to ask this question to him so I'm glad it was brought up. It's sad really that a technology like what GORE has to offer is able to save lives and improve the quality of life. Yet, they can't provide it to people that likely need it because they need to protect their intellectual property rights. While I think GORE has to continue to protect the property and it's the right thing to do, it's still sad.
DeleteI think Chris makes an interesting point. Some governments, in particular China, seem to have little interest in protecting property rights. The tone appears to be, do whatever you want as long as it strengthens our country and our businesses. The immediate effect is that some companies, like Gore, will choose not to take the risk of having their intellectual property stolen and do business elsewhere. The long term consequence is a lasting distrust and a business migration to other countries that will protect property rights.
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DeleteWith Chinas ability to reverse engineer just about anything these days, you wonder if it’s worth the resources to protect it. All they have to do is get their hands on it before they figure out how to make it themselves. Its unfortunate, but it forces companies to continue innovating to stay ahead.
DeleteIt was interesting to hear Dr. Begovac speak about the lattice structure of the organization. Specifically, that the perception of the company's structure gets somewhat misconstrued. He had stated that organization did require some sort of leadership.
ReplyDeleteIt was also interesting to hear how the different laws and political environments of the different countries affected the access to markets for medical products. He talked about how it used to be easier to get medical products approved in European countries, but now those countries have started creating barriers similar to those in the US.
It was interesting to me how dedicated Dr. Begovac was to working so tirelessly on inventing these wondrous vascular tubes. It's like a Thomas Edison story. Years and years of failure until one day, the solution finally comes. As Dr. Begovac stated, it is awesome that Gore can provide the culture and tenacity to allow so many years of testing without success. Few companies are capable of such long-term perspectives.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciated that he came down to earth about the hierarchal structure of the company. I was finding it very hard to believe that such a company could be managed out of so many geographically distant locations without at least a number of responsible individuals that operations had to be reported to.
I appreciated the additional insight that Dr. Begovac offered concerning Gore’s organizational structure as it relates to firm specific advantages. Gore is known for developing an organization that is very flat, lattice like. Dr. Begovac confirmed the flat organization structure but also suggested that the actual practice may be overestimated. As associates perform, a natural rising to the top occurs and these associates are elevated to an untitled position of authority. This develops into more traditional hierarchy without the formalities of a title. It seems reasonable, that people with leadership qualities will have followers.
ReplyDeleteI made this same observation as Travis. It was good to hear first hand how the lattice organization really functions instead of reading and theorizing about it.
DeleteIt also seemed to me that the organization gets less lattice like as one moves up the corporate ladder. A new employee at the bottom of the hierarchy while still defining their role in the company probably has a more lattice structured environment. As that role gets defined and more specific, there are communication channels and responsibilities that require a more traditional hierarchy structure. I also thought is take on ‘dabble time’ was interesting and realistic. Articles I have read in the past indicate that all employees have time each week to do whatever interests them. Although dabble time would be great, it just isn’t a reality and he confirmed that whey he said if he wanted dabble time, he was working on the weekends.
DeleteI found it interesting when Dr Begovac talked about some of the issues with certain countries that were not accepting of the materials used in the products, ie use of pig material. Something every international business entrepreneur may not think about which has the potential to be a huge stepping stone for new products to enter those markets. There are cultural and religoius beleifs that inhibit the use of products that use grafted material from animals.
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