Orange sells only four products and they are very different…
Orange sells only four products and they are very different from each other. Their newest product is a Bluetooth headset where the microphone attaches to one of the customer’s teeth. This is an expensive headset and customer demand is unknown. However, it does make Orange a huge profit. It has been difficult for the company to find a good supplier of dental mikes. Another technologically advanced product is the ‘gesture’ mouse which reads one’s body language and allows one to manipulate the computer purely with gestures. These mice must be set up for the body language of various cultures and Orange needs to customize these to different countries. Orange also makes a regular headset though it is high-fidelity. Production requires special speakers only available from one or two suppliers. Orange worries that these suppliers might not continue supplying them. Finally, Orange sells t-shirts with their logo on them. These are purchased plain and silk-screened in-house. How should Orange manage the supply chains for these four products? Explain your answers in terms of upstream and downstream uncertainty.