Develop the innovation portfolio
We have developed a consultancy, training and coaching tool that helps you develop a new Innovation portfolio with the investment of one-week of your time.
We start building from the foundations: we need your strategy for growth and innovation to be clear.
In particular, what are the markets where you want to play and especially in which markets you do not want or should not try to play .
From this point we will help you build your Innovation team with whom we will work for about 1 week using
– creativity techniques to encourage the development of ideas
– consumer testing techniques to immediately assess the interest of your potential consumers / customers
– techniques to calculate project profitability
– project management techniques to define the priority and the time plan of the portfolio
Upon completion of the work you will have a new Innovation portfolio, divided into
– a plan to implement selected projects over time
– an assessment of the risk and sustainability of the Innovation portfolio with respect to your growth strategy.
Of course all the documentation produced in this journey (customer tests, profitability calculations, project plans, etc.) will become your company’s assets.
Develop Products, Packaging and Technologies
To begin with we need a clear definition of the goal you want to achieve and we will challenge you until the priorities are clear.
Who drives: the organoleptic quality, the food safety, the functionality of the product, the characteristics of the packaging … ..?
We will work alongside your team of Research and Development experts: we will help you to develop the project by adding our know-how to your strengths.
Our strength is to have access to a network of experts who help us find the right solution for you: in short, we do not always have the answers but we know where to look for them!
We are constantly keeping our know-how up-to-date: here is our report of the November 2014 All4Pack packaging fair.
When organoleptic quality is the priority for the development of new products, we always start from cookbooks and experiment in the kitchen to define the recipe of the product with a scientific approach.
In this case, process and packaging technology are at the service of quality, to ensure product shelf-life, together with the safety of the product.
Examples of products we have contributed to develop: the Bruschetteria and the sauces for pasta Bertolli, Lemon and Peach Lipton Ice Tea.
If instead the product’s functionality is the priority, it is our scientific approach that guides and helps us to select the components of the recipe based on the desired application result, or to define the parameters of the production process to ensure product quality and safety.
The new Friol formula is a recent example to which we have contributed, working on the formula.
An example of the development of technology is the Plasmon dessert range packaged in a plastic tray with aseptic technology.
With packaging development it was love at first sight, due to the complexity of factors that must be taken into consideration: environmental impact, shelf impact, product protection, ease of use for the consumer, functionality in transportation, cost, sustainability.
From this perspective we have 2 strengths: the ability to manage the relationship with packaging suppliers and the ability to design and execute the tests necessary to verify the desired functionality for the packaging.
We have contributed to the patent of the plastic bottles that carry Bertolli olive oil in the world and we contributed to the launch of Lipton Ice Tea in a plastic bottle with liquid nitrogen technology.
Create a Culture of Innovation
Do you wish that people in your organisation hit targets faster, come up with more creative solutions, were more pro-active in solving problems and pushed harder for their ideas?
Are your markets changing fast so that you need your staff to have mindset of agility and fast decision making based on real data?
We can help you spread creativity and a start-up culture in your organization, identifying gems and fostering them to shine via a fluid Innovation process. Our tried and tested Innovation Sandbox creates an environment in which employees experience a “start-up mentality” and are coached to bring their idea to fruition, in a short time, under pressure.
Learn more about our Innovation Sandbox.
Grow your Key People
What happens when a position of medium responsibility is becomes free in a company, but internal candidates of high potential are not considered ready for this jump in the managerial world: technically they would also be close to the target, but they lack part of the managerial and relational skills.
How can internal candidates with high potential be made able to take on the new role? A new approach involves a Temporary Manager joining them.
I speak from direct experience because I have been Temporary Manager many times, here are some examples:
– responsible for the Quality Assurance function within an innovation project (18 months)
– responsible for building a research and development team and its management (12 months)
– responsible for the Research and Development function within an innovation project (10 months).
In all these cases, the results were in line with the two main expectations of the client companies: ensuring the performance required of the managerial role and growing the internal candidate of high potential in the role.
For this to happen, some success factors must be fulfilled.
Let’s start from the characteristics of the Temporary Manager:
– Must have held that role or roles with higher responsibility for many years, so he must have the technical knowledge and the relational skills necessary to manage the role
– Must have coach and mentor skills
– Must work to make his presence less and less necessary over time, he must work to avoid creating dependence on the person whose growth he is supporting.
The company must completely integrate the Temporary Manager into the organizational structure and the relevant chain of command, as if it were in effect part of the company.
Finally, both must agree a temporary consultancy contract with objectives both linked to the role held and related to the growth of the young manager assisted by the Temporary Manager.
As for the economic evaluation of the approach, the company must take into account several elements:
– The daily cost of the Temporary Manager is generally higher than the cost of the position held, because it is linked to the person’s seniority
– This is counterbalanced by the temporary nature of the contract and by the fact that the company does not bear part of the full time employees costs, since the Temporary Manager is not an employee
– The growth of the internal candidate is accelerated, thanks to the extremely motivating situation that is created
– The company acquires a know-how that goes far beyond what would have brought by a full-time external candidate, thanks to the seniority of the Temporary manager