Innovation management and sustainability in the food industry: concepts and models

Innovation in the food industry comes in different forms: incremental, product or process, social, and so on. To date no classification of innovation in this context exists. We believe that such a classification could be useful for both scholars and managers operating in the food industry in order to identify the key factors that drive innovation in this environment. The main aim of this chapter is twofold: first, to review the main classification proposed in the extant literature, and second, to identify an innovation model suitable for the food industry, especially due to the urgent need for sustainability and reduced environmental impact of our times. For this purpose, we first present the extant literature on innovation in general and in the food industry in particular, with specific emphasis on the innovation classifications and models available in the research literature. We propose a classification of innovation according to the Chandy and Tellis’ model (1998) and provide examples for each kind of innovation giving emphasis on examples of sustainability driven innovations. Specifically, two main concepts are emphasized: the market, and in particular the consumer, and the technology. The paper concludes with comments on recent trends on innovation in the food industry.