B2B Case Submission : 2

GROUP NO 7
GROUP MEMBERS:
Manjeet Kumar (M03714)
Abdul Wahid Khan (M06814)
Anup Ranjan (M077-14)

Oindrila Mandal (M10914)

Amit Kumar (F001-14)

Adarsh KAM (M070-14)

DATE OF SUBMISSION:

24/09/2015

Toshima Singh (M129-14)

Bose Corporation: The JIT II Program

The Dilemma: Involving G&F in Boses JIT II program through a fulltime
representative with full access to Bose facilities. If G & F declined, United Printing
would be approached.
Advantages:

Higher level of integration with vendor will result in smoother and more
optimized procurement processes and shorter lead times
Would increase understanding and co-ordination between Bose and the
vendor when it comes to product quality. The two entities will be
collaborating from the design process itself
Increased reliability and commitment from vendor resulting in lesser
defects and superior quality of supplies.
Plastics are an important part as Bose has very high standards for exterior
surfaces of speakers, thus the JIT II system will help bring greater control
to the company
Sales representatives from vendor would provide the engineering
expertise that the Bose procurement Managers typically lacked, leading to
superior quality purchases.
Producing plastics for Bose require considerable expertise and experience
and G & F is the perfect vendor to provide this service (Argitis had 15
years of experience in the field)
For G & F Bose was the largest account and hence their involvement and
commitment to this tie-up would also be very high thus leading to higher
chances of success
Manufacturing plastic involved high capital expenditure and high levels of
cost which would take Bose considerable time to develop in house. Thus
the JIT gives them a quick solution and reduces Time to Market.
Printing was a non-essential part of Boses manufacturing process so a JIT
with United Printing would not actually be deterrent to Boses overall
vertical integration strategy.
An alliance with United Printing will centralize printing procurement and
drastically reduce costs.
Dixon already had experience in streamlining printing procurement at
Honeywell which would be useful in implementing this JIT II.

Disadvantages:

G & F representative gains full access to Bose systems and processes and
therefore may take advantage of information related to pricing and other
vendors.
The JIT II will possibly act as a deterrent to Bose developing its own in
house capabilities in plastics (Boses vertical integration strategy will be
hampered)
The vendor may gain unfair knowledge about other vendors through inside
channels of Bose
The vendor may manipulate pricing and procurement for his own benefit
The vendor may not fully understand the processes and quality standards
required by Bose
Procurement may still be more expensive than developing in house
capabilities
It was unclear if G & F would become a supplier to all Bose facilities as
those had other options available.
The employees in sales and marketing department would fight for greater
control over the print purchasing process as that is how it was traditionally
performed in Bose

Recommendations:

The JIT II system with G & F should be implemented as it would improve

quality and reliability, reduce costs and reduce Time to Market for Bose.
Implementing JIT II with united Printing will also centralize the print
purchasing with the purchasing department and would therefore reduce
costs significantly.
However Bose should take measures to ensure that vendors do not take
unfair advantage of the system and implement measures to control the
outflow of sensitive information. The vendor representatives should not be
given access to all the systems and data.
Bose should propose this to vendors as a long term relationship which
would guarantee the vendor higher volumes of business with Bose.
Bose should try to invest in improving the processes of the vendor
company as well in order to ensure better outcomes from the JIT II system.