Systematic Consumer-Driven Innovation in Mature Food Categories: Applications of Rule Developing Experimentation

The book, targeted to academia and practitioners, introduces a systematic product development methodology, Rule Developing Experimentation (RDE), which is particularly effective for innovation and NPD in mature food categories. The theoretical part of the monograph creates a framework that links and further develops the components of conjoint analysis including underlying experimental designs and interaction detection. A proposed approach, isomorphic permuted experimental designs (IPEDs), resolves limitations of traditional conjoint analysis approaches related to the lack of variability in the selection of specific combinations of levels in fractional experimental designs. IPEDs allows for the creation of unique (per respondent) yet statistically isomorphic designs, which also facilitates a novel way to detect and measure any/all interactions between the product features. The book demonstrates a knowledge-building RDE application that accumulates and utilizes systematic and reusable information of consumer preferences, which fosters innovation across different fields through increased consumer involvement in product development.