A Consumer-Centric Open Innovation Framework for Food and Packaging Manufacturing

2. Approach/Model

The food industry is a mature and slow-growing one and is typically very conservative with the level of investment in new technology (Monsef et al., 2012). At the same time, it is a very active industry constantly seeking to identify and address the needs of new market segments, although innovation is restricted to incremental improvements of existing products (Sarkar and Costa, 2008).

The traditional closed innovation has been used for many years within the food industry. But, this sector recently perceives its end-user to be wary of radically new products and changes in consumption patterns (Sarkar and Costa, 2008). Such perceived wariness, together with the restricted legal requirements related to food safety, transforms food industry’s innovation process into a highly complex, time-consuming and risky “odyssey”, and hence one not to be lightly undertaken.

However, these recent important changes in the nature of both food demand and supply, coupled with an ever-increasing level of competitiveness, and the high volatility of global markets caused by the global financial crisis, have rendered innovation not only an unavoidable corporate activity, but also one that is increasingly vital for overall profitability and survival (Sarkar and Costa, 2008; Bigliardi and Galati, 2012).