Approaches for Selecting Product Innovation Projects in U.S. Food and Agribusiness Companies

Abstract

Although executives acknowledge the strong link between innovations and performance, they are still challenged by crossing the bridge from great ideas to revenue. The objective of this paper is to understand better the approaches used by the food and agricultural sector to select product innovation projects, and to draw a picture of an innovation portfolio of a food and agribusiness company. This paper adds to the management literature by studying a different sector, the U.S. agricultural sector and focusing on the implementation of theoretical models. The survey of about 100 companies, indicate that the food and agribusiness sector tends to use cross-functional teams and several selection methods when they select product innovation projects. This selection process yields to a diversified portfolio in terms of potential for return, time to market, and costs already incurred. However, companies tend to be biased towards in-house and low risk projects. Company and industry characteristics’ effects on the results are present but limited. It is important to note that this dissertation does not study the effect of these practices on performance, which is a necessary follow-up.

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