There are two very important management inputs for product development success (Cooper, 1993; Crawford, 1997):

    1. Company management's involvement in product development.
    2. Direct management of the product development programme and project.

General management needs to provide direction from the business strategy, resources and major decision making on the programme and the individual project. Product development management needs to provide the plan, the multidisciplinary cooperation and the quality assurance to product development that will result in an effective outcome and efficient procedures.

Many textbooks have been written about PD management in general (Twiss, 1986; Cooper, 1993; Zangwill, 1993; Crawford, 1994, 1997; Urban and Hauser, 1993; Jackson and Frigon, 1996); a list up to 1995 is in the PDMA Handbook of Product Development (Rosenau, 1996).

Some key elements identified by three different authors are shown in Box 1.2.

Box 1.2 Some key elements in product development management After Vrakking & Cozijnsen (1997) Failed scenario Lack of strategic control Vague innovation objectives Competence conflicts between disciplines Defective decision making Company culture: survival of the fittest Weak role of marketing Success scenario Enhancing strategic control Clear innovation objectives Cooperation between disciplines Effective decision making Company culture: consensus about objectives Initiating role of marketing After Zangwill (1993) Expertise and technological foundations, cultural foundations, managerial foundations, planning foundation and risk management Eradicate fumbles, place customers first Develop a business strategy, design the product, improve continuously After Kmetovicz (1992) Make new product development a controlled process Keep an eye on the world Involve all relevant people from the start Collect information together Use information cooperatively Have a representative object of the end product in view Learn how to make decisions quickly Work with competitive tools and methods Entrust execution to competent people In the event of problems, adjust only the affected areas Maintain the 'can do' vitality in the organisation

From all of these books and research, and also from Griffin's 1997 summary of the PDMA survey on American companies, there are some fundamental needs in product development management in general which are also applicable in the food industry. Firstly there is involvement of the general management, which is crucial and then there is the management of the product development programme and projects.