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Strategic visioning for long term growth |
T. J. BARGMAN, ConAgra, Inc., 6 ConAgra Dr., Mail Stop #PDL 215, Omaha, NE 68102-5006 In many, if not most, cases product development activities are strictly focused on short to intermediate term gains and activities. In many industries such short term thinking can lead to long term problems and product line inadequacies. This presentation will explore long term options as they can feed into ongoing product development activities and structure. Understanding the generic food industry, food manufacturing, foodservice, and customer orientations all help to better understand future directions for the industry. Such crystal ball forecasting helps to understand the various forces and to differentiate between trends and fads. This is a very daunting and difficult task. What types of resources are available to provide raw data? How can these resources better help you to understand how today’s diversity can reshape tomorrow’s business? These are only two of the basic questions that should be asked. The integration of today’s hard data with predictions from futurists combined with a gut level understanding of intangible market forces help guide us to an understanding of possible future changes and what they might mean specifically to our businesses.
Session 38, Strategies for successful product development
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