chapter1 Keys to new product success and failure.pdf

1
Keys to new product ess and failure
The aim of this chapter is to identify the important factors in food product
development to be studied in detail in the eeding chapters. Firstly the
different groups of food products are identified as a basis anising product
strategy. Then the published research on the factors in product failure and
product ess in all types of industries is used to identify the key factors in
food product development. This leads into the management of product
development at three different levels:
1. Business strategy.
2. Product development programme.
3. Product development project.
Finally specific aspects of food product development are identified as the basis
of the book, and the structure of the book is outlined.
Food products – the basis of innovation
What are food products? What are new food products? Everyone agrees that a
food is material eventually consumed by humans to satisfy physiological and
psychological needs, but the pany and the consumer can have quite
different descriptions of the food product presented for sale. pany
defines a basic functional product to which it has added packaging, aesthetics,
brand, price and advertising, to give a pany product. The consumer
describes the product as a bundle of benefits, relating its tangible and intangible
attributes to their needs, wants and behaviour. For a basic food product, for
example flour, the description can be simple and pragmatic, but for products
4 Food product development
such as a meal at a restaurant, it can plex and emotional. pany
defines a new product as having some difference in the basic functions and
aesthetic presentation; but pare it with the ‘old’ product and
competing products and if they recognise a difference then it is a new product to
them (Schaffner et al., 1998). Product development is all about reconciling these
two points of view.
There are many thousands of food products and they can be grouped together
into product ca