Best of breed

From CEOpedia | Management online

Best of breed (BoB) is a product or service best in its class. The company may want to obtain best of breed equipment, software, patent. It can give competitive advantage, because customers usually prefer the best quality products and services[1]. However, there are also downsides of having best of breed products. What is interesting, this term is used more often in IT more than in other economic fields.

Advantages and disadvantages of BoB

As it was said earlier, there may occur many different approaches about using best of breed products and services, because there are some advantages and disadvantages, everything depends on what is crucial for the specific company.

  • best of breed products are usually expensive. Before making purchase the company should analyze potential cost and benefits[2]. In many cases buying best of breed product won't be as profitable as it looked at first glance,
  • often high cost goes for high quality, so the company should consider BoB if it wanhs to be associated with quality,
  • the best of breed products often are not compatible with older ones. If the company buys new equipment for production line, there can be a problem with compatibility. In case of software, interfaces often don't work as supposed. Before purchase the company should analyze compatibility of the products,
  • best of breed products may be highly desired by customers, that's way sometimes it's very hard to buy them, so because of limited purchase, they may become a luxury good. Hence, sometimes it is necessary to wait a long time after making the order[3],
  • if the company offers best of breed products, it makes the impression of better than the others, and, consequently it's better placed on a competitive market.
  • if the necessity of any kind of merger appears, it is easier to integrate the systems between companies which are on the similar technological level. Even if only one of them uses BoB, their infrastructure helps with formal issues[4].

Best of breed systems

Then it comes to IT systems - best of bread means, that the system is created of individually designed components - applications[5]. Each one has its own base with data. In big companies, or those with numerous departments, where everyone has to use the best quality programme, servers are overflowing with memory of so many databases. There's a solution for this: integrated systems[6]. There are numerous of applications providing similar solutions - so the market is highly competitive. In integrated systems approach, the company resigns from the best quality (BoB) of the programmes in favour of getting many applications in one system with just one database.

Examples of Best of breed

  1. Software: Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, and Slack are all examples of best of breed software. Microsoft Office is considered the gold standard of office productivity suites while Adobe Creative Suite is the premier set of tools for digital media production and Slack is a powerful collaboration platform for teams.
  2. Hardware: Apple Macbook Pros and Apple iPhones are two of the most popular best of breed hardware products. MacBook Pros are considered the premier laptop for creative professionals and Apple iPhones are the most popular smartphones in the world.
  3. Patents: Tesla, Inc. has a number of best of breed patents related to electric vehicle technology. These patents, combined with Tesla's other innovations, has helped the company become one of the most valuable automakers in the world.
  4. Services: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the most popular best of breed cloud computing services. AWS provides a wide range of services and tools to help customers build and scale their applications quickly and cost-effectively.

Other approaches related to Best of breed

Best of breed is not the only approach when it comes to choosing products or services. There are several other approaches which could be beneficial as well, such as:

  • Horizontal integration - This approach is when a company seeks to acquire products or services from different suppliers in order to create a single unified offering. It allows for greater flexibility and cost savings.
  • Vertical integration - This approach is when a company seeks to acquire products or services from the same supplier in order to create a single unified offering. It can reduce costs and time to market, while also allowing for better control over the quality of the product.
  • Strategic partnerships - This approach is when two or more companies join forces to create a single unified offering. It allows for greater flexibility in terms of product development and cost savings.

In summary, best of breed is just one approach when it comes to choosing products or services. There are several other approaches which may be beneficial as well such as horizontal integration, vertical integration and strategic partnerships.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Light, B., Holland, C. P., Wills, K., 2001, p. 216-224
  2. ↑ Constantinos S. 1999, p. 2-4
  3. ↑ Light B., Holland Ch. P., Kelly S., Willis K., 2000, p.2-7
  4. ↑ Light B., Holland Ch. P., Kelly S., Willis K., 2000, p.2-7
  5. ↑ Hermann S. A., Pharm. D., 2010, p. 1-3
  6. ↑ Burchi F., Fanzo J., Frison E., 2010, p.358-373


Best of breed — recommended articles
Indirect sales — Reintermediation — Tuck-In Acquisition — Imitator strategy — Market Challenger — Horizontal marketing system — Horizontal diversification strategy — Strategic Buyer — Lateral integration

References

Author: Anna Włodarczyk

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