BOSE Corporation

TECHNOLOGY | CULTURE | BUSINESS
CANDIDATES | SAMPLE JOB LISTINGS | ARTICLES

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW

Hewlett Packard servers and desktops and Windows NT and UNIX operating systems are standard. Application packages and the development tools that come with them include SAP for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), PeopleSoft for Human Resources, i2 for factory planning, CA-MANMAN for factory floor production, Hyperion for reporting, Oracle and SQL for database management, HP OpenView for systems monitoring, and Ecotools for database monitoring.

The company has 2,500 PCs at corporate headquarters, and an additional 1,000 at various sites around the world. Communications gear includes Mytel and Lucent phone switches, Lucent Automated Call Distribution (ACD) and Octel's voice mail system.

Bose's recent expansion of its SAP system added general ledger, sales order management, and finished goods inventory functions. More than seventy Bose retail stores will use SAP's retail management component. Web site sales go directly to the SAP system, using Microsoft's COM/DCOM connector and Transaction Server to map distributed objects to SAP's Business Application Protocol Interface (BAPI). New technology being deployed or investigated includes a storage area network system (SAN) for SAP, Microsoft's Systems Management Service for centralized control and remote PC software installations, and the convergence of PC, telephone, and email systems.

CULTURE OVERVIEW

The corporate headquarters of Bose is located on one of the highest elevations in the Framingham area, and affords a view of downtown Boston from the suburbs. There are four Bose buildings in the Framingham Technology Center, including a dedicated facility for research and development engineering, and a facility for manufacturing. Staff members work in private cubicles and private offices.

Benefits include various medical, dental, and vision plans, a fully funded retirement plan, a 401(k) plan with a company match, and credit union. Disability and life insurance are available, as well as employee assistance, adoption benefits, tuition reimbursement, and domestic partner programs. The company subsidizes memberships to fitness centers and offers employee discounts on all of its products, as well as discounts on products at partner companies for automobiles, personal computers, and Disney parks. Social activities include holiday parties, a summer outing, and golf and softball leagues. Recognition programs at both the corporate level and the department level reward employees for exemplary performance. Employees are reviewed annually and are eligible for merit increases and participation in the corporate bonus program.

Dress is business casual. The company's workday is 8:15 AM TO 5:00 PM. Flexible work hours, part-time work hours, telecommuting and alternate work schedules, such as 9/80 and 4/10 are options. A 45-hour workweek is average. Travel requirements depend on the position.

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Bose sets itself apart from its competition by demonstrating excellence in innovation, setting standards in the audio industry with a number of breakthroughs. With a research and development staff that is proportionately the largest in the industry, Bose creates products that combine simplicity and small size.

Some of its innovative technologies and their associated products include:

• Direct/Reflecting® speaker technology, incorporated in the flagship 901® Direct/Reflecting loudspeaker. This was the first speaker system to radiate sound energy from the rear of its cabinet.

• Delco-GM/Bose music system. This was the first system customized for the acoustics of an automobile.

• Acoustic waveguide technology incorporated in the Acoustic Wave® music system, the first complete high-fidelity stereo in one small, portable case. This technology is also included in the Wave radio.

• Acoustimass speaker technology incorporated in Virtually Invisible® speaker systems. These were the first systems, consisting of a bass module and cube speakers, that made the high fidelity component nearly invisible.

• Auditioner audio demonstration technology gives people the ability to hear what a space will sound like before it is built.

• Acoustic Noise-Cancelling® headset technology incorporated into a family of Bose aviation headsets. These are the first headsets that reproduce speech and music with high fidelity while reducing unwanted cabin noise in an airplane.

Products range from the company's original 901® Direct/Reflecting® speaker, which mimics the sound of a live concert by reflecting 89 percent of the sound off walls, to its Pro Loudspeakers, designed exclusively for professional musicians. Bose introduced factory-installed, customized car speakers in 1982, and now many of the world's luxury automobiles feature Bose speakers, including Mercedes Benz, Cadillac, and Corvette. In 1986, the company introduced speaker cube arrays to fill a room with sound and in 1989, its Acoustic Noise-Cancelling headsets for pilots and ground crew. The Auditioner demonstration system allows architects and engineers to test how a room will sound, from blueprints, before it is built. Bose sound systems can be found in stadiums and auditoriums, cars and spacecraft, on stage and at home. Its five divisions are the Home Audio Division, the Automotive Systems Division, the Professional Systems Division, the Noise Reduction Technology Group, and the Direct Marketing Group.

CANDIDATES

Combining both a distributed and centralized information technology (IT) model, Bose employs130 information technology professionals at corporate headquarters, and another 60 worldwide. Channel-specific application areas, like the Direct Marketing Group, keep their own IT units. Developers generally have a Bachelor's or Master's degree and five to twenty years of experience. Job titles are casual, but there are specialists in networks, systems administration, SAP, data center operations, and database applications.

Bose hired 60 information systems professionals in the last year, plus an additional 15 software engineers. Five of these were for entry-level positions. They expect to hire 50 in the next year. Additional engineering positions include those for electrical, chemical, mechanical, and materials engineers. Candidates are found through employee referrals (30 percent; there is a bonus program for referrals), online recruiting (30 percent), employment agencies (30 percent), and unsolicited resumes (10 percent).

A minimum of a Bachelor's degree is typical for salaried positions and an interest in the industry is common. As Ramrath says, "This company is engineering driven. We have a passion for both excellence and innovation, as we continually seek to develop new technologies and products that bring benefits to consumers' lives." And, in a tribute to a company that has almost as many direct marketing awards as product awards, Bose looks for candidates who are very customer-focused.

ARTICLES

Technology Review, "At Bose the Challenges Don't Always Involve Stereo Systems," advertisement, May/June, 2000