Managing innovation is a necessary skill for senior management of all food companies producing new raw materials, new ingredients or new consumer products. Company growth and even survival depends on the continuing introduction of successful new products into old and new markets. Product success or failure depends on many factors, but the most important are the product, the skills and resources of the company, the market and the marketing proficiency, and an organised product development process.

There is a vital need to understand the consumers' behaviour and attitudes and to be able to design a product to meet the users' needs. But it is also necessary to have the technological knowledge, and the skills, and the organisational ability to bring a product to a successful commercial conclusion in the marketplace. This book studies these key issues in product development and outlines the methods of managing them. It differs from other books on product development because it recognises:

     different approaches to product development at different stages in the
        food system;
     supply of biological raw materials that affects food product
        development;
     central place of the consumer in all aspects of food product
        development because of the close, daily relationships between the
        consumer and food;
     very fast turnover of food products;
     the political effects on food products and their marketing.

Food product development aims to develop:

     understanding of the place of product development in the
         company's business strategy and how this is related to the
        technological, political, societal and economic changes occurring
        in the environment;
     ability to analyse the complex food system as the basis of
        delivering food products to the final consumer;
     understanding of the customers' needs for food commodities
        and for industrial ingredients as a basis for production research
        and for product development of ingredients;
     understanding of the food consumer's needs (nutrition, safety,
        sensory, social and psychological) in different cultures and
        societies as a basis for consumer product design;
     knowledge of the product development process and the ability
        to select decisions and outcomes for the various stages;
     knowledge of the activities in product development and the
        techniques related to these activities;
     ability to plan and manage a product development programme
        and specific product development projects;
     ability to evaluate the outcomes of product development projects
        and design improvements to the PD process so as to raise the
         level of success.

The material in the book is divided into three sections:

     Part I Introduction
     Part II Key requirements for successful product development
     Part III Managing and improving product development

Part II explores four basic aspects of product development - developing an innovation strategy, the product development process, the knowledge base for product development, the consumer in product development. Part III studies the management of product development in general and in different parts of the food system and in different types of food companies. It also discusses the evaluation of the launch of a new product and also the outcomes of a complete product development programme and how changes can be implemented to improve the outcomes and the efficiency of product development in the company.