P reface 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 introduction of successful new products into old and new markets. The dividing line between oroduct success and failure depends on many factors, but the most important are new product qualities, skills and resources of the company, market and marketing proficiency, and an organised product development process. There is a need to understand 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 oroduct to a successful commercial conclusion in the marketplace. This book studies some of these key issues in product development and outlines the methods of managing them The book started on a day in 1956 when Mary Earle joined the product development team at Unilever Limited, Colworth House, Sharnbrook, Bed fordshire. Jack Savage, the leader of this team, was a pioneer of product development in the food industry. It was his understanding of product development as a coordination of technology and marketing, always aimed at the final consumer, that laid the basis for Mary's work in product development uring the next 40 years. She tried to put these ideas into practice in the food industry in Britain and the meat industry in New Zealand, and quickly realised that there was a real need for education in product development for all people entering the food industry particularly technologists, engineers and marketers. In 1965, at Massey University, New Zealand, she introduced courses in product development and food marketing in the Bachelor of Technology degree in food technology. These courses combined theory and projects, so that the students notManaging 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 introduction of successful new products into old and new markets. The dividing line between product success and failure depends on many factors, but the most important are new product qualities, skills and resources of the company, market and marketing proficiency, and an organised product development process. There is a need to understand 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 some of these key issues in product development and outlines the methods of managing them. The book started on a day in 1956 when Mary Earle joined the product development team at Unilever Limited, Colworth House, Sharnbrook, Bed￾fordshire. Jack Savage, the leader of this team, was a pioneer of product development in the food industry. It was his understanding of product development as a coordination of technology and marketing, always aimed at the final consumer, that laid the basis for Mary’s work in product development during the next 40 years. She tried to put these ideas into practice in the food industry in Britain and the meat industry in New Zealand, and quickly realised that there was a real need for education in product development for all people entering the food industry particularly technologists, engineers and marketers. In 1965, at Massey University, New Zealand, she introduced courses in product development and food marketing in the Bachelor of Technology degree in food technology. These courses combined theory and projects, so that the students not Preface