Abstract
The Wageningen Innovation Assessment Tool (WIAT) compares the self assessment of the
drivers and barriers to innovation at the company level and the critical success and failure
factors of innovation at the project level with data of agrifood prospector firms around the
world. In total 46 innovation projects, 11 successfully concluded and 6 failed projects, as well
as 29 running projects in 12 multinational agrifood prospector companies in the Netherlands
and France, two innovation consortia and one knowledge institution are discussed. It is
concluded that the innovation process of agrifood prospector companies can be substantially
improved by revealing the tacit knowledge of the innovation project team by use of WIAT.
The key success factors identified are team communication, product superiority and market
potential. It is further concluded that innovation project teams should be cross-functional and
feature a heavyweight project leader. Based on the finding that the innovation teams of
successful projects show higher awareness of the market characteristics, it is concluded that
agrifood prospector companies need to pay extra attention to market and product related upfront
activities. The finding that the respondents of both successful and failed projects give
relatively low scores for marketing and distribution resources and skills, should therefore be
considered as an early warning signal for the agrifood industry as a whole.
Original language | English |
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Pages | 1-20 |
Publication status | Published - 2007 |
Event | The 17th Annual World Food and Agribusiness Forum and Symposium, Parma, Italy - Duration: 23 Jun 2007 → 26 Jun 2007 |
Conference
Conference | The 17th Annual World Food and Agribusiness Forum and Symposium, Parma, Italy |
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Period | 23/06/07 → 26/06/07 |