INNOVATION AND NEW PRODUCT DESIGN - 2024/5

Module Overview

The module focuses on issues central to innovation and the development of new products in the food and food services industries. It discusses technical issues to accelerate the development process and management strategies to reduce cost and reduce failure rates. It includes first-hand experience of the early stages of the development of a new product. The modules apply various aspects of your previous modules to develop a well-argued, holistic report that discusses how various influences come together to make a strategic decision about the continued development of a product. The module specifically supports the following pillars: Digital – application of digital methods to source and analyse data; Employability – application of knowledge to inform strategic management decisions; Resilience and resourcefulness – a largely self-led project involving various types of data collection, leading up to a major report.

Module provider

Surrey Hospitality & Tourism Management

Module Leader

EVES Anita (Hosp & Tour)

Number of Credits: 30

ECTS Credits: 15

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

• Overview of innovation and product development: definition and drivers

• Creativity

• Food and food service trends

• NPD in food service and food product sectors

• Application of market research in product development

• Food safety management – HACCP

• Sustainability in product development

• Legal issues in labelling and marketing products

• Application of sensory analysis and consumer research in product development

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

NA

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to allow you to demonstrate your ability to creatively develop a new product idea, justify the idea using the literature and market data, and to collect, critically analyse and report relevant data leading to an informed strategic management decision over the future progress of an INPD project. This will require you to use knowledge and understanding developed in other modules (e.g. Services Marketing, Business Research Methods) to collect, analyse and report data to support your project.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• An Individual Report covering various elements of the INPD process, culminating in a justified decision over whether the INPD project should continue.

The assignment covers all learning outcomes.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is via unassessed group presentations of data collected for each section of the report, where feed forward is provided on the work to date

Feedback

Feed forward will be given in presentations, each of which links to a section of the final report. Feedback on the final submission will be given through in text comments and the standard University Feedback form, which identifies what was done well, and what could be improved.

Module aims

• Define innovation and new product development and understand its drivers
  
• Analyse of the factors that determine new product success
• Gain a comprehensive understanding of how various disciplines are applied in the new product development process
• Critically assess information derived from application of research methods to inform management decisions

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to develop your knowledge and appreciation of the issues that arise in INPD, and how these come together to determine if an INPD project should progress. You will also need to draw on existing knowledge from other modules studied during your programme, including Services Marketing and Business Research Methods.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Lectures covering keys issues in NPD


• Outside speakers covering experiences of NPD in foodservice and food product development


• Guided data collection to support the report (carried out in small groups)

Seminar group presentations covering data collected to support one section of the final report, with feedback given to improve work prior to submission

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN3168

Other information

This module adopts the university curriculum framework which aims to develop you with strong capabilities in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module contributes to the development of the following capabilities: 

 Employability:  This module follows the same stages that any new product development does in industry and as such is authentic and develops employability skills such as data collection, analysis, interpretation and subsequent development of strategic management decisions underpinned by evidence. You will also develop presentation skills and an ability to report information concisely and accurately. 

 Digital Capabilities: In this module you will use digital platforms to sources information to support your project and also use digital analysis approaches to analyse collected data.

 Global and Cultural Capabilities:  During this module you will work in small groups, which will help to further develop your global and cultural capabilities.

 Sustainability: You may choose to include aspects of sustainability in your product idea, which will further develop your understanding of sustainability and how product development can advance this.

 Resourcefulness and Resilience: Collecting data, analysing it and using this to inform strategic decisions will require resourcefulness in identifying appropriate sources of information and resilience where data collection is not straight forward and in the writing of a significant piece of work.

 

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2024/5 academic year.