Browsing by Subject "Kysely"

Food industry companies continuously develop products to stay competitive in the rapidly evolving market and to respond to changing consumer needs and desires. This study presents product development processes and approaches, design thinking, and the double diamond model, emphasizing the success of consumer-centric product development through empathetic engagement with consumers. In this qualitative research, a survey tool was developed aimed at empathetically engaging consumers through a questionnaire. The tool was constructed based on the four questions introduced by Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie (2011) rooted in design thinking: "What is?", "What if?", "What works?", and "What wows?". Respondents were asked how they perceived the product, what delights them about it, what would make them purchase it, and what would make it perfect. The questions were operationalized through four iterations in Finnish and then presented for a hybrid sausage product concept combining meat and vegetables. The final survey received 80 responses. The responses were analyzed twice through content analysis and the natural language processing-based Etuma software. The software illustrated its capabilities and limitations in analyzing open data and identifying ideas with AI-based software. The outcomes and possibilities of the survey tool in food product development were evaluated by interviewing four professionals who have worked in food product development. The study found that the survey serves as a source of inspiration in the early stages of consumer-centric product development and facilitates empathetic engagement with consumers. Especially the first and fourth questions sparked respondents' enthusiasm for ideation, producing a diverse set of development ideas for the hybrid sausage. The AI-based software produced clarifying reports, making it easier to go through the material. The software is seen as significantly speeding up the review of extensive data, but a researcher must delve into the obtained material to identify the best ideas.