An Evaluation of Critical Factors Influencing Product Innovation in the Food Industry—— A Case Study of China Mengjiu Dairy Company

This paper aims to identify the critical factors influencing product innovation in the food industry and exploretheir roles in Chinese food company. It firstly identifies three key factors that impact on product innovation inthe food industry focusing on the literature review of innovative factors in the food industry and itscharacteristics. Then enlightened by a case study of China Mengniu dairy company, the importance of eachfactor is assessed which shows that in the Chinese food industry market research is most critical for productinnovation. Strategy is also the crucial factor and technology plays a comparatively weak role. The findingsindicates that the factors influening product innovation can be diverse due to target industry and itscharacteristics. Therefore futher studies are encouraged to expolre the roles of factors crucial to productinnovation in other industries in China.