Bose Corporation is an American manufacturing company that predominantly sells audio

equipment. The company was established by Amar Bose in 1964 and is based in Framingham,
Massachusetts. Bose is best known for its home audio systems and speakers, noise-cancelling
headphones, professional audio products and automobile sound systems. 

in the 1950s, Dr. Bose decided to purchase a new stereo system. He was disappointed to find
that speakers with impressive technical specifications failed to reproduce the realism of a live
performance.

In 1966, the Bose 2201 became the first product sold by the company. [9] It was an unusual design
consisting of 22 speakers, with many of them facing away from the listener. The 2201 was
designed to be located in the corner of a room, using reflections off the walls to increase the
apparent size of the room. The 2201 was a failure in the market and was discontinued after three
or four years.[9]

After this experience, Amar came to the conclusion that the audio system measurement
techniques of the time (such as measuring distortion and frequency response) were not effective
ways to evaluate the goal of natural sound reproduction. Amar argued that the best measure of
audio quality is the listener's perception.[10][11][12] Also in 1968, the company introduced the Bose
901 stereo speaker system, which used eight mid-range drivers pointing towards the wall behind
the speaker, and a ninth driver towards the listener. The purpose of this design was to achieve a
dominance of reflected over direct sound in home listening spaces. The design used in the 901 is
unconventional compared with most systems, where mid-range and high-frequency speakers
directly face the listener.[13] The 901 was an immediate commercial success, and Bose
Corporation grew rapidly during the 1970s. The Bose 901 model name was a mainstay of the
Bose line-up for many years, being produced from 1968 until 2016. [14][15]

Today, you can hear Bose wherever quality sound is important. From the Olympic games to
the Sis*ne Chapel. From NASA space shuCles to the Japan Na*onal Theatre. In the home
and on the road, from large outdoor arenas to in*mate neighborhood stores and restaurants,
you can hear the realism of the most respected name in sound — Bose

The New Product Development Process is one of the many concepts that can be directly
applied to Bose’s success today. Amar Bose was one of the key sources of Idea Generation
as his passion for research fueled much of Bose’s product development. Bose’s greatest
success comes from their Marketing Strategy Development as they were able to effectively
find specific customers to market their product to when their product was initially shut
down or received an extensive amount of criticism.

A number of elements contributed to the success of the new Bose product line. Company
founderAmar Bose strongly believes in the power of research and development. Significant
funding allocated to a dedicated research team fueled the continuous innovations in the
Bose product line. By branching out, Bose discovered new methods of producing technology
of higher quality.
The founder of Bose Amar Bose once said, “we are not in it strictly to make money”. Thus,
he rooted the DNA of Bose as a company that is focusing on its customers’ values rather than
building revenues, profits, and stock prices. That idea was under running researches for new
innovations. “Internal Sourcing” and “Product Development”- these are the main factors
led Bose’s new product success.

Definitely yes. Bose company puts its customers in the center by finding new ways to solve
customer problems, and creating more customer-satisfying experiences. By that Bose is
giving its customer a prominent value. Moreover, Bose’s first slogan was “Better sound
through research”.

Bose’s product development is not only customer centered, but also research centered as
well. As mentioned in the case study, Bose’s philosophy and slogan “Better Sound Through
Research.” Bose produces products that targets specific issues held previously by consumers
by starting from scratch and researching the best way to solve these issues. There are times
when Bose products may not seem customer centered due to their unconventional method
of not basing products off what customers want, but in the end their final products show
how much superior they are when tested by consumers.

Lesson #1: Noise-Cancelling Headphones Were Not About Cancelling Noise.

Bose wanted to improve the sound quality and tonal balance of a set of headphones. We weren’t
working on a noise-reduction problem. Only after developing the technology did we realize that
our aims were off-target and that the right goal was noise-reduction. In many cases, the primary
benefit for consumers is unknown to developers. What turns out to be the real consumer benefit
is not what you envisioned. It is often a secondary artifact of your invention that matters most in
the end.

Lesson #2: Listen to Customers.

We discovered the chief benefit of the noise-cancelling technology when we took the product
around the country to military installations, such as an Airforce base and an armored personnel
center, in pursuit of government contracts. In these military settings, we discovered the most
important benefits of our product: improving communications and ensuring hearing safety for
pilots and others exposed to loud conditions over sustained periods. The product’s adoption by
fighter pilots grew into interest from private and then commercial aviation, including United and
American Airlines.

Lesson #3: Product Selection Can Be the Luck of the Draw.

As a young researcher out of MIT, I was working along with a technician on two problems. One
project became the Noise-Cancelling Headphones. The other project was experimenting with
loudspeakers that were responsive to their location and position in a room. We were able to
breadboard a basic design of the Noise-Cancelling Headphones in a couple of weeks while the
responsive speaker problem was thorny.

In a meeting with Dr. Bose, he made a sudden decision: abandon the research project that
wasn’t working and focus on the headphones. The speaker project was dropped forever. Dr.
Bose decided to pursue the energy – to follow what was working. You never know what paths to
take when you’re doing pure research because you never know what is on the other side of the
discovery process. There’s an element of instinct involved in scouting these paths.  You can read
more about product development processes in the TCGen blog.
Lesson #4: Don’t Waste Time Optimizing An Invention Because You Can.
It’s a waste of time to try to squeeze that last one percent of performance improvement out of an
invention – especially if it has not yet found its way into the hands of prospective customers. It is
seductive for engineers to get caught in incremental optimization because they can and not
because it will prove right for the product. Just because a problem is solvable doesn’t mean you
should solve it. The engineer’s time is better spent on improving cost, quality, or reliability. Most
importantly, put your invention into the hands of consumers who will tell you what is really good
or bad about it.
Lesson #5: Do Pure Research.
Innovations are fragile. The system is wired against them and they often fail. Having structure
around pure research can give innovations a greenhouse in which to grow to a level of maturity.
Bose spent a significant percentage of its total R&D budget on pure innovation. A rather large
team was dedicated to it and a manager was assigned to oversee it. This research unit had
some fine talent that spawned great ideas. Learn to nurture ideas. Providing a structure for these
fragile plants helps them grow.
Lesson #6: Marketing Must Support Inventions.
Bose found it difficult to commercialize its Noise-Cancelling Headphone technology. Fortunately,
we took full advantage of the lead we had in this segment (the incumbents were totally
surprised). We learned that it is critically important to have the technology innovator supported by
people on the marketing side who welcome and optimize the offering. It is not sufficient to have a
great idea. Innovations need to find a home in Marketing and Sales as well.

Lesson #7: It’s Not Always Technology Innovation That Makes a Technology Product
Successful.
The total product includes much more than the item on the shelf. It includes connections online,
social sanctions, packaging, distribution, etc. Another blockbuster, the BOSE Wave Music
System, had great technology but its success was due to innovations around distribution. Initially,
the product had a challenge: it looked unimpressive behind the glass at Best Buy. People
needed to hear it, to experience it, to understand the benefit of this audio innovation – large,
vivid, full-frequency sound, in a small, beige box.
We knew we had a great product, but how could we reach consumers with it? We tried door-to-
door sales (believe it or not). That didn’t work. Direct mail didn’t work much better. At last, a
celebrity spokesperson made the difference. We sold it direct, with the aid of a celebrity
broadcaster who took our product onto the airwaves. Ultimately, this led Bose to create its own
stores. Dr. Bose was not only a product innovator but an innovator in marketing and distribution
as well. It was these latter capabilities that made the difference with the BOSE Wave Music
System.