How can you align your food product development portfolio with your company's goals and objectives?

1 Define your portfolio scope

When planning your food product development portfolio, the first step is to define its scope. You should consider your company's vision, mission, and values, as well as their strategic goals and objectives. Additionally, you need to think about the market segments and target customers, and how you can create a competitive advantage and differentiation with your food products. With a clear scope in place, you can have a consistent vision of what you want to achieve with your portfolio and how it supports your company's goals.

2 Evaluate your portfolio performance

The second step is to evaluate the performance of your food product development portfolio, which is the measure of how well your projects and products are delivering the expected outcomes and benefits. To do this, you need to consider your portfolio metrics and indicators, such as key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect objectives such as revenue, profitability, market share, customer satisfaction, innovation, quality, sustainability, etc. Additionally, you need to ensure that your portfolio is balanced and aligned across different dimensions like risk, reward, resource, time, stage, category etc., and has a mix of short-term and long-term projects. Furthermore, it's important to review and evaluate your portfolio performance regularly by collecting and analyzing data and feedback from internal and external sources. By evaluating your portfolio performance in this way, you can have a realistic and objective view of how well it is meeting expectations and delivering value to customers and stakeholders.

3 Optimize your portfolio decisions

The third step is to optimize your portfolio decisions, which are the choices that you make to manage your food product development portfolio. To do this, you need to consider aspects such as portfolio prioritization and selection, execution and delivery, and optimization and adaptation. When prioritizing and selecting projects and products, you should consider criteria such as budget, capacity, timeline, etc. For execution and delivery, processes and tools should be used to plan, design, develop, test, launch, and evaluate products. Lastly, optimization and adaptation should be done based on changing market conditions and customer feedback. By optimizing your portfolio decisions, you can have an effective way of managing your food product development portfolio and achieving desired outcomes.

4 Develop your portfolio skills and competencies

The fourth step is to develop your portfolio skills and competencies, which are the abilities and knowledge that you need to manage your food product development portfolio. You should consider the technical skills required to stay up-to-date with trends, technologies, and techniques in food science and innovation. Additionally, you should assess your management skills for organizing, coordinating, and leading your food product development portfolio. Lastly, you should evaluate your learning skills to continuously improve your portfolio skills and competencies. With a strong and versatile foundation in place, you can manage your food product development portfolio effectively and deliver value to customers and stakeholders.

5 Cultivate your portfolio culture and mindset

The fifth step for successful food product development portfolio management is to cultivate your portfolio culture and mindset. You need to consider how you communicate and share your portfolio vision and mission, how you demonstrate and uphold your portfolio values and principles, and how you encourage and stimulate innovation and creativity in your portfolio. Additionally, you should embrace diversity, experimentation, and failure while fostering a culture of trust, respect, integrity, curiosity, exploration, and discovery. By cultivating your portfolio culture and mindset in this way, you can create a positive environment to deliver value to customers and stakeholders.

6 Align your portfolio with your company's goals and objectives

The final step is to align your portfolio with your company's goals and objectives, the ultimate aim of your food product development portfolio. To achieve this, you need to consider how your portfolio supports and advances your company's vision, mission, and values, as well as how you coordinate and harmonize it with other functions. Additionally, you should measure and demonstrate the value and impact of your portfolio to your company's goals and objectives. It’s also important to recognize and reward the achievements and contributions of your portfolio to your company's goals and objectives. By aligning your portfolio with these goals and objectives, you can have a clear purpose to manage it effectively and deliver value to customers and stakeholders.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?