Is it possible to have a large company with a motivated workforce?

This question was posed to me during a recent reunion of a few employees of a small Belgian software company that was sold off to a large multi-national a few years back. We were debating why it was that our little company had been so successful and how come we were all so motivated to work for it?

My explanation was that we were ‘David versus Goliath’. I proposed that what motivated us was the excitement of us having a few brilliant engineers working together, competing against a massive US team employed by a very large American Multi-national. Even though the odds were stacked against us, we managed to produce a better product, far quicker and obviously far more efficiently every single time. Despite all the struggles we had, we shared a common vision and each of us knew the part we had to play in order to achieve it.

Like many reunions, all of the ex-employees looked back at their 'Eonic days' as being special and the company as being the best they had ever worked for. But then the notion was raised that it is impossible to have a truly motivated workforce in a large company. I immediately disagreed and said it was possible, just as long as the company had a very clear mission and that the senior management teams found ways of engaging all their staff into the common goal, with everyone apreciating the responsibility they each have for their own role and their own part of the complex puzzle.

The question is: Does such a company exist? And where is it, what is its name?