Market-oriented new product development of functional beverages
Year: 2006
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Strategic reviews of the Irish Food and Beverage Industry have consistently emphasised the\nneed for food and beverage firms to improve their innovation and marketing capabilities, in\norder to maintain competitiveness in both domestic and overseas markets. In particular, the\nfunctional food and beverages market has been singled out as an extremely important emerging\nmarket, which Irish firms could benefit from through an increased technological and market\norientation. Although health and wellness have been the most significant drivers of new product\ndevelopment (NPD) in recent years, failure rates for new functional foods and beverages have\nbeen reportedly high. In that context, researchers in the US, UK, Denmark and Ireland have\nreported a marked divergence between NPD practices within food and beverage firms and\nnormative advice for successful product development. The high reported failure rates for new\nfunctional foods and beverages suggest a failure to manage customer knowledge effectively, as\nwell as a lack of knowledge management between functional disciplines involved in the NPD\nprocess. This research explored the concept of managing customer knowledge at the early\nstages of the NPD process, and applied it to the development of a range of functional beverages,\nthrough the use of advanced concept optimisation research techniques, which provided for a\nmore market-oriented approach to new food product development.\nA sequential exploratory research design strategy using mixed research methods was chosen for\nthis study. First, the qualitative element of this research investigated customers’ choice motives\nfor orange juice and soft drinks, and explored their attitudes and perceptions towards a range of\nnew functional beverage concepts through a combination of 15 in-depth interviews and 3 focus\ngroups. Second, the quantitative element of this research consisted of 3 conjoint-based\nquestionnaires administered to 400 different customers in each study in order to model their\npurchase preferences for chilled nutrient-enriched and probiotic orange juices, and stimulant\nsoft drinks. The in-depth interviews identified the key product design attributes that influenced\ncustomers’ choice motives for orange juice. The focus group discussions revealed that groups\nof customers were negative towards the addition of certain functional ingredients to natural\nfoods and beverages. K-means cluster analysis was used to quantitatively identify segments of\ncustomers with similar preferences for chilled nutrient-enriched and probiotic orange juices,\nand stimulant soft drinks. Overall, advanced concept optimisation research methods facilitate\nthe integration of the customer at the early stages of the NPD process, which promotes a\nmulti-disciplinary approach to new food product design. This research illustrated how advanced\nconcept optimisation research methods could contribute towards effective and efficient\nknowledge management in the new food product development process.
Author: Douglas Sorenson
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1498487179