Identification of key success factors of functional dairy foods product development

The present study elucidates key success factors influencing the product development of functional dairy foods and examines if the studied products can be categorized as potential breakthrough products primarily in a domestic market. General conclusions are also made with reference to functional foods development in the international setting. Three functional dairy foods were studied with specific emphasis on the key success factors influencing length and timing of individual product development phases on the total length of product development. Key factors which were identified as being the most critical were (1) the specificity and action mechanism of the added health benefit of the final product, (2) the range of new product or process alternatives, (3) the selection of the consumer target group and, (4) legal and marketing issues. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.