6.8 Company organisation for product development

Organisation and organisational changes were a significant part of food company management in the 1980s and 1990s; this management structuring and restructuring affected product development. Companies bought or amalgamated with other companies to obtain new brands and new products, and either brought together the product development and R&D groups in the two companies and then reduced the size, or dropped the product development group in one company.

Then it was found that the various technologies in the conglomerate companies did not match, so they divested themselves of some areas and went back to their 'knitting' or core group. Other companies decided that they were only in marketing and sold off their processing plants and technologies; some decided that cost-cutting was the name of the game and divested or at least reduced their R&D departments. In all of this reorganising, the processing and marketing technologies were certainly split apart and in many cases were reduced, and product development was absorbed into one or the other.

Today there is a need for a more dynamic management system that can grasp the idea of total technology and also be aware of changes occurring both technologically and in society.

There is no right or wrong structure for product development management. The place of product development will be determined for individual companies on the basis of:

     company strategies and objectives;

     industry environment;

     economic climate;

     company's existing product mix;

     level of technical orientation;

     level of market orientation;

     personnel involved;

and dare we say, the prevailing fashion in management!