Discussion Question 2: Is bose's product development process centered? Please Fully Explain.

Company Case 8 best specifications-he was disappointed in the system's ability to reproduce realistic sound. It was then that Bose began beavily researching the problem to find his own solution. Thus began a Bose: Better Products by Focusing stream of research that would ultimately lead to the founding of on the Product long-standing Bose slogan, "Better Sound Through Rescarch." From those early days, Amar Bose worked around certain In a survey by brand strategy firm Lippincoth, the most trusted core principles that have guided the philosophy of the company. In brand in consumer electronies was not Apple. Nor was it Sam- conducting his first research on speakers and sound, he did somesung. Souy, or Microsoft. It was Bose, the still relatively small, thing that has since been repeated time and time again at Bose. He privately held corporation that has been making innovative ignored existing technologies and started entirely from scratch, audio devices for more than 50 years. In consumer electron- something not common in product development strategies. ies, Bose's $4 billion worth of annual headphone, speaker, and other product sales is "relatively small" -think Apple, which Amar Bose put all of the privately held company's profits back rang up \$228 billion worth of techno gadgets and goodies. But into research and development, a practice that reflected his avid when it comes to the passion customers feel for their brands, love of research and his drive to produce the highest-quality the Marsachusetts-based technology company outshines even products. In doing so, he also bypassed the process of figuring Apple. Bose forges that deep consumer connection based on the out what customers wanted. Instead, Bose kept research confined brand's design simplicity and brilliant functionality. to the laboratory and centered on the technical specifications of Bose adheres religiously to a set of values that have guided creating a superior product. the company since its origins. Most companies today focus heavily on building revenues, profits, und stock prices. They try to outdo competitors by differentiating product lines with features pointed out that publicly held companies have long lists of con- and attributes that other companies don't have. Although Bose doesn't ignore such factors, its competitive advantage is rooted I worked for another company, I would have been fired a long time in its umique corporate philosophy-the product comes first. ago." For this reason, Bose always vowed that he would never take "We are not in it strictly to make money." says a Bose spokes- the company pablic. "Going public for me would have been the person. "The business is almost a secondary consideration." equivalent of losing the company. My real interest is researchFrom its earliest days, the strategy at Bose has been to make the that's the excitement-and I woaldn't have been able to do longmost innovative products by focusing on research and design. term projects with Wall Street breathing down my neck." The Bose Philosophy Innovating the Bose Way To understand Bose the company, you must first look at Bose The company that started so hambly now has a breadth of the man. In the 1950s, founder Amar Bose was working on his product lines beyond its core home audio line. Additional thind degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had lines target a variety of applications that captured Amar Bose's a keen interest in research and studied various areas of electri- creative attention over the years, including military, automocal engineering. He also had a strong interest in music. When he tive, homebuilding/remodeling, aviation, and professional and purchased his first hi-fi system-a model that he believed had the commercial sound systems. It even has a division that markets 540 Appendix 1: Conpery Caser testing equipment to research institutions, univernities, medical waveguile spealer technology, a technology today found in the device companies, and engineering conruanies worldwide. The awand-winning Wave munic systems. following are just a few of the products that illustrate the inno- In the 1980%, the conspany again changed conventional vative breakthroughs produced by the company. thinking about the relationship berween speaker size and scund. The Acoustimass system employed a remote subwooter, en- Speakers abling puimevize speakers to produce audio quality equivalent Besc's first product was a speaker introdoced in 1965. Expect. to that of moch larger high-end syteems. This concept is just ing to sell 51 million worth of speakers that first year, Blose made another example of bow Bose influenced the industry as the 60 bet sold only 40 . The original Bose speaker evolved into the 901 Direct/Reflecting speaker system launched is 1968. That foe bonse theater systems. speaker system was detigned arnand the concept that live saund reaches the buenan ear via direct as well as rellected channels puter speaken that rival the sound of throe-picce subwoofer completely unorthodox configuration. Sheped like one-eighta syseme. And Bose has led the way in developing wireless of a sphere and mounted facing into a room's cocner, the avilio spesler systens-a move quickly followed by all competitors. waves reflected off the walls and filled the rooen with sounds when istrodsced, each was so rechnologically advanced that that seetn to be everywhete but conse from nowhere in particu- Bose still sells it today-evea the original 901 series. And witb Iar. The speskers had no woofers or tweeters, composod instead cutting-edge prodacts in the categories of smart speakers, wearof eight four-and-a-half-inch midrange drivers. The speakers able spealers, potable speakers, multi-toom speakers, and were also very small coenpared to the high-end speakers of the day. The design came mach closer to the exsence and emotional impact of live music than anything else on the market and won immedise industry acelaim. The reflective approach, although groundhreaking at the time, is commonly found in home thealer systems throughout the industry today, bome theater, Bose cortinues to set the standard. Back then, however, Bose had a hard time convincing customers of the merits of these innovative spectiers. At a lime Headphones Over a period of nearly two decades. Bose invested tens of selling a single pair. Now, headvets are one of the company's When tize meanit everything. fhe 901 series initially flogpod. core prodacts. laitially. Bose focused con noise reduction techIn 1968, a retail salesperson explained to Amar Base why the nologics to make headphones for pillots that would block out speakers weren't selling: the High levels of neise interference generated by aircrift. Bose heatphones didn't just mattle noise, they electronically Look, 1 love your speaker but f cantert seil it hecause it males me casceled ambient neive so that pilots wearing them heari noching lose all my credibility as a saleseman. I can't eqplain to agone why but the ietended sound coening throegh the phones. Bose quickly the 901 doesn't tave any woofens or tweeters. A man came in and discovered that airfine passengers could benefit as much as pilots ww the small siac, and he started looking in the drweess for the frum is headphoee techsology. Todry, the Bose QuietComfort sehidieg the woofer? I said to kim, "There is ne wooler." Se he said, noive-canceling headphonea. One journalist conviders this product "You're a laz," and he walked out. To resolve this crodibility problem, Bose developed asocher core competency-identifying and targeting the right customer with the products it was confideat were superior to even the Automotive Suspensions best offerings. For Bose, this generally meant targeting higher- Since 1980 , the inquisitively innovative culture at Bose has income customers who aren't audio buffs but want a good prod. eves led the company down the path of developing automotive act and are willing to pay a premium price for it. For the 901, saspension. Amar Bose's interest in suspensions dates back to this included using innovative dipplay and demoestration tac- the 19500 when he bought both a Citroen and a Pontise, each tics. Throughout its history, this approach has served Bose well. nifing co ascoventional air seappeasion systems. Thereafter, be Although hardooce audiophiles scotf at Bose products as Eittle was obsessed with the engineering challenge of achieving good more than smoke and mirrors, cuttomers whose expectations comering capabilities withoet sacrificing a crooth ride. haven't been shaped by precunceived specficutions perceive The systen Bose developed was based on electromagnetic Bove products to be exceptional. So far as the 901 is concerand, metors intalliod at each wheel. Based on inputs from mad sensing the product became so sucsessful that Amar Bose credited the monitors, the motar could retract and extend almost instantareousspeaker series with buiding the company. Iy. Foc a bunp in the road, the suspension reacted by "Jumping" over The list of major speaker innovations at Bose is a long it. For a pothole, the wiyension allowed the whecl to extend downone. In the 1970s, the company iatroduced concert-like sound =wart, retracting it quickly emought that the pothole wouldn't be felt in the bookshelf-size 301 Direct/Reflecting speaker system. by passengers, ln addition to these corrafort-producing capabilities, Fourteen yeass of research lead to the development of acoustic the wheel moces were designed to leep a car coneletely level during an aggressive maneuver such as comering or stopping. sion of the man who shaped one of today's most innovative and The system achieved Amar Bose's vision to provide better handling most trusted companies. His philosophies have produced Bose's than any sports car while simultaneously giving vehicle occupants long list of groundbreaking innovations. Even today, the compuny the most comfortable ride imaginable. continues to achieve success by following another one of Amar Bose invested more than $100 million over 30 years in the Bose's basic philosophies: "The potential size of the market? We groundbreaking suspension. In the end, the system was simply really have no idea. We just know that we have a techology that's too heavy and too expensive for use in passenger cars. Rather so different and so much better that many people will want it," than shelf the product, however, Bose did what it has often done. It found a market where the technology could be used Questions for Discussion to provide genuine customer value. The company now markets 1. Bused on concepts discussed in this chapter, describe a smaller, lighter version of the Bose suspension as the Bose the factors that have contributed to Bose's new product Ride seat system for heavy-duty trucks. Surpassing current air success. ride and other conventional technologies in performance, its 2. Is Bose's product development process customer centered? 56,000 price tag also exceeded the going price of a truck seat Explain. by five to ten times. Although most companies and drivers were 3. How is Bose unique with respect to product life cycle skeptical at first, drivers reported that using Bose Ride was a management? transformational experience-like floating down the highway, 4. With respect to the product life cycle, what challenges does detached from the truck, regardless of the road surface quality. Bose face in managing its product portfolio? Bose's commitment to research and development has pro- 5. Can Bose continue to maintain its innovative culture withduced state-of-the-art products that have contributed to the trust out Amar Bose? that Bose customers have in the company. Customers know that the company cares more about their interest5-about making Sounces: "Apple'sNext Big Thing Could BeHigh - End Healphones to Rival the best products-than about maximizing profits. But for a Beats and Bose," Time, March 5,2018 , hutp/hime com/5 185613/3pple company not driven by the bottam line, Bose dnes just fine in heidphones-beats-bosel; "The Global Earphones and Headphones that department as well. In the personal headphone market, five Market, PRNewsire, Jantary 22, 2018, www. pmewswire.com/ companies control two-thirds of the global market. Bose is sec- news-releases/the-global-earphones-and-headphones-murketond only to Beats and is the anly company besides the market is-expected-to-grow-at-a-cagr-of-731-during-20172023-300585974. leader with a double-digit share. hetml; DavidCarnoy, "Bose's New Beat," CNET, Fetruary 3, 2016, www. Amar Bose passed away a few years ago at the age of 83. enetcomews/bose-new-beat-coo-maresca-profilel; Brian Dumaine, With the passion of a genuine scientist, he worked every day well "Amar Bose," Fortime Small Buriness, September 1, 2004, hitpill into his 80s. "He's got more energy than an 18-year-old," one money.cm.com/magazines/fstvfsb_archive/2004.09101/8184686//; Oiga of Bose' colleagues once revealed. "Every one of the naysayers Kharif, "Selling Sound: Bose Knows," Blibambery. May 14, 2006, www. only strengthens his resolve." This work ethic illustrates the pus- and http://bose.comven_us/about bove heml, accessed Oetober 2018