Therefore, this study highlights the different approaches to new product development in Thai food and beverage industry, which consist of background research and problem definition. As a result, the different approach to new product development in Thai food and beverage industry would be discussed. Thus, different approaches to new product development processes can be selected for a specific type of new product development.
Additionally, there was less literature to study on new product development for Thailand's food and beverage industries. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate different approaches of large firm of new product development in Thailand's food and beverage industries. What factor influences different approaches to new product development process among Food and Beverage Company in Thailand.
Which phase/step from each model should be adapted to create better quality new product development.
LITERATURE REVIEW
- New product development
- Definition of new product development
- Type of new product development
- Team approach to new product development
- General model of new product development process
- New product development process for food and beverage industry
- New product development process for Thailand’s food and beverage industry
Furthermore, their performance was focused not only on the new product introduction, but also on the quality of the new product and on the development process (Chiesa et al., 1996). Senior Managers - For research in the Journal of Product and Brand Management, Hanna (1995) stated that senior management is responsible for approving development efforts in order to create new product development. Idea Screening - All new product ideas are considered for the potential, in terms of manufacturing, technology and marketing capability, to develop those products.
Concept development and testing - New product ideas are carried out in marketing research to understand consumer insights. In the research in knowledge and process management, Man et al., 2010 proposed an idea funnel model which represented the new product development process in the food industry. Several food journals (Suwannaporn and Speece addressed that new product development process in Thailand's food and beverage industry was similar in terms of larger process.
New product line - New product in the company that may or may not be new to the market.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Methodology
Sample size and data collection
Industry Food and Beverage Food and Beverage Food and Beverage Food and Beverage Food and Beverage Main Product Frozen and Chilled Food Alcoholic Beverages Fruit Juice Spices and Coffee Spices and Coffee. As most of the food and beverage companies in Thailand launch many new products (SCB Economic Intelligence Center, 2013), they certainly face many challenges while working on each process. In this step, the researcher will use an in-depth interview because we can get an accurate and distinct experience of the respondent without limitations in the alternative.
Information about the R&D officer's experience is usually derived from a semi-structured interview (Ghauri & Gronhaung, 2002).
DATA ANALYSIS
Interview Summary of each company
- Person A
- Person B
- Person C
- Person D
- Person E
Some products could not find the right market in Thailand, which meant that sometimes the product only developed but did not reach the market. For a long time, sometimes the product was not verified in the market, which made it risky whether that product could work well in the market or not. Third, the customer approach. The advantage was that the product had to be developed very quickly because the customer provided a clear target direction.
From her perspective, the most difficult part of the NPD process was finding the right target and how to develop the product at a reasonable price and meet the target quality. She talked about how if her team develops a new product without any market, the product itself would eventually have to cease. For top management, they just told the R&D team to develop the product they wanted.
After the R&D team got the information, they had to develop the product and later do the marketing research to verify the product. If the product did not overcome their criteria, they would develop the product to make it better. He mentioned that the most important part of the NPD process was the development process of whether the product is good or not.
For R&D team approach, he said that his team had opportunity to create innovative product, every idea of R&D can make the product. He mentioned that the most important part of the NPD process was the product testing to evaluate the stability of the product. For the technical leads, the product can differentiate from the technology they put in the product that can sustain it in the market due to technological barrier.
While, in the case of post-launch, the success of the product in the market could verify the effectiveness of the NPD process. Then, for the product concept idea, R&D would use that information to go to the lab to begin developing prototypes. In terms of the most important part of her business, she stated that product strategy played the key role at NPD.
In terms of the verification process, if the product matched the customer's needs and the sale was very good.
Comparative analysis
- General flow of NPD process in Thailand’s food and beverages industry depend on R&D perspective
- Period of new product development process
- Number of NPD process in Thailand’s food and beverages industry
- The difference of each approach for company’s new product development processes
- The advantage and disadvantage of each approach for
- The most difficult part of company’s new product development processes from R&D staff’s perspective
- The most important part and adjusted step of company’s new product development processes from R&D staff’s perspective
- Effectiveness of company’s new product development processes from each R&D staff’s perspective
- The key uniqueness of company’s new product development processes from each R&D staff’s perspective
For top management, they just tell the R&D team to develop the product they wanted.” (Person B). Third, the customer approach. The advantage is that the product must be developed very quickly, because the customer has specified a clear target direction. However, sometimes the R&D team needs to hold the new product due to market changes.” (Person B).
On the other hand, sometimes the marketing team does not clarify the direction for the R&D team. On the downside, sometimes both R&D and marketing stick to the new idea which leads to a long time for ideation in order to differentiate the product from the existing one. The hardest part in the NPD process is finding the right target and how to develop the product at a reasonable price and meet the target quality.
The difficult part of the NPD process was the product testing (shelf life and stability test) because my team has to find a way or method to test the product. Due to the difficulty of the NPD process, there would be two steps; one for the information they got, how to get the right information, how to extract, what kind of information they would use to develop the product. My company should do research to validate the product before launch.” (Person A).
The most important part in the NPD process is the development process, regardless of whether the product is good or not. The most important part of the NPD process is the product testing to evaluate the stability of the product. As for the most important part in my company, product strategy plays the key role of NPD.
While after launch, the product's success in the market can verify the effectiveness of the NPD process." (Person D). You can see the product as frozen and chilled food that we are the first company to produce and let others realize it." (Person A). The step that could differentiate his product from the competitor was the first step or getting the idea from the customer marketing and R&D team because if they have lots of data about the market and description of the product such as packaging material, target audience, optimal size and trend or possibly important information, they could improve their product." (Person C).
To differentiate the product from the competitor, concept development, it could not just be a statement, but this step could understand the consumer's inner to develop the concept, technology to create, trust the concept.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Input information and effective verification are the essential part that all R&D staffs mention as very difficult and need to be improved at the same time, because both parts derive from communication which easily gets wrong information. Thus, the Team should make clear understanding between top management and R&D team, marketing and R&D team, customer and R&D team along with customer and company from product verification. All R&D staff believe that if input information and effective verification are improved, it can improve the effectiveness of their NPD process and their new product as well.
Each company has a different uniqueness regarding the stage in the NPD process, which depends on the strategy of each company. For all these, the management team is responsible for finding their core competence of the NPD process and trying to strengthen it because the overall NPD process is the same, but the differentiation must come from the details of each stage/step that can create uniqueness. of every product on the market. As pointed out in the introduction and literature review, some questions are consistent with my hypothesis, while some are different.
The main difference is that the NPD process must vary according to the step/phase of each process. It is clear from the interview that the factor that creates a different approach may be the type of product. As can be seen from the literature review, there are four types that in the food and beverage industry include only product improvements, existing product with new marketing platforms, new product platforms and innovative products (Introduction to Project Management, 2011).
In terms of top management approach, it might be the new product platform because top management might see the potential overseas and want to expand the product categories into the company. While for the R&D approach, the type of product is innovative products that derive from the technical knowledge that their team has. They also have separate responsibility that the input information should be the marketing team that suggests top management and transfer information to R&D team.
For example, the top management team who have many experiences of the business, they use the feeling to introduce the new product. Nevertheless, from the interview, most R&D personnel mentioned in the same direction that they want to improve the input information to reduce it disadvantage and verification step that must be effective and ensure that the product will survive and sustain in the market.
LIMITATION AND RECOMMENDATION
Limitations
Recommendation
Workplace flexibility and performance in new product development: The role of telework and flexible work schedules. From Preliminary Ideas to Confirmed Product Definitions: Managing the Front End of New Product Development.
APPENDICIES
APPENDIX A: Interview Guides
