Founded and led by a 45-year M.I.T. professor, Bose Corporation is more a business built for an operating model, than an operating model built for a business. That operating model, neatly summarized by the slogan, \u201cBetter Sound Through Research,\u201d continues to drive the company\u2019s performance fifty years after its founding.<\/p>\n
Bose is known for high-end electronics manufactured for travelers, NASA, car companies, the military, aviators, and home builders. The company is perhaps best known for their known noise canceling head-phones[i]<\/a>, and least known for designing seats for truckers.[ii]<\/a> For their cutting-edge products, Bose demands a high price. In fact, critics have often complained that Bose offers poor value-for-money, particularly on the basis of hardware.[iii]<\/a> This criticism is born out in Bose\u2019s Quiet Comfort 25 Headphones (QC 25s). Though named best in their class, [iv]<\/a> reviewers find that better sounding over-ear headphones can be had for half the price. [v]<\/a><\/p>\n In exchange for their hefty prices, however, Bose offers an unparalleled customer experience premised on innovative technology, sleek design, and guaranteed quality. Bose products are backed by a one-year repair or replace warranty.[vi]<\/a> Customers rave about their experience with having their products instantly replaced and upgraded, often at little or no cost.[vii]<\/a> Critics applaud the QC 25s\u2019 compact, lightweight design as both practical, and luxurious.[viii]<\/a> Yet reviewers are unanimous in declaring[ix]<\/a> that it is Bose\u2019s industry leading noise canceling technology[x]<\/a>\u2014and the research that behind it\u2014that helped to create a cult following for Bose headphones, especially among frequent travelers.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kms-q1BiyVY<\/a><\/p>\n Slick videos like these raise the question: Is Bose really serious about R&D, or is its premium brand perception more a matter of effective marketing? It is no secret that Bose has been at least as successful in marketing their products as it has been in developing them. The company wisely targets unsophisticated consumers with plenty of money to spend. The professional business traveler is perhaps the most compelling archetype. Audiophiles complain that Bose offers poor value, but the truth is they are not Bose\u2019s target segment. This is why Bose sells its products at high end malls and in airports, rather than old record shops or Guitar Centers.<\/p>\n Behind the effective customer targeting, however, is a company with research at its very core. It had been Dr. Amar Bose\u2019s obsession with technical performance that led him to begin testing speakers while a doctoral student at MIT.[xi]<\/a> \u00a0This zeal led him to design Bose\u2019s first product, the 901, whose innovative active equalization was met with as much praise as it did scorn. Bose recognized that most speaker systems were designed without the room in mind. As a result, speaker performance would vary wildly from venue to venue. Active equalization was necessary to keep sound quality consistent. The result was a system which critics declared lacked base and treble, but which fans declared produced the \u201cmost accurate sound\u201d[xii]<\/a> they had ever heard. Whatever their initial reception, this product would go on to be the second longest speaker set ever in continuous production.[xiii]<\/a><\/p>\n Bose\u2019s commitment to research did not waiver as the company grew. In fact, Bose researchers have at times stepped decidedly outside of the realm of consumer electronics to flex their kudos as scientists and engineers on other problems. In the 1990s, Bose put together a ten-person team that worked for two years to debunk the theory of cold fusion. The company has since committed R&D resources to all kinds of problems, from innovative audio systems, to revolutionary automotive suspension technology.[xiv]<\/a><\/p>\n