eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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Purpose of the study:

Innovative packaging and new package development are becoming more and more important factors in highly competitive fast-moving consumer goods market were the number of products is high and the need for differentiation is vital in getting consumers’ attention. In order to develop successful package innovations that lead to sales increase, the success factors of new package development process need to be identified. Although the determinants of new product development process have been widely studied, academic literature lacks research in new package development process. This study aims to fill the research gap by exploring and identifying success factors of new package development process.

Methodology:

The data used in this study was collected via a web-based questionnaire, targeted to decision makers in supplier companies in Finnish fast-moving consumer goods sector. 92 managers and specialists participated in survey questionnaire investigating new package development process and attitudes towards packaging innovations within target companies. The data was analyzed by using correlation analysis and one-way ANOVA test to find relations between independent and dependent variables. The hypotheses were formulated based on the theoretical insights of NPD process success factors.

Findings:

The study succeeded in finding statistically significant correlations between success of new packages and certain factors of new package development process. More precisely, the study suggests that innovation-friendly company climate and attitude have positive influence on new package success. Furthermore, the results indicate that significant amount of internal resources allocated to new package development has a positive influence on new package success. Moreover, the study found that packaging innovations are widely reckoned as an essential factor for product success. However, it also revealed that new package development process is still significantly less developed and organized than new product development process. In addition, the measurement and goals of packaging innovation process should be better defined in Finnish fast-moving consumer goods supplier companies.