Waste to want. Overcoming patterns of failure in small food producers through innovative enterprise frameworks
Author: Timothy Lynch
Waste to Want. Overcoming patterns of failure in small food producers through innovative enterprise frameworks
Timothy Lynch
31 March 2014
Lynch, T. (2014). Waste to Want. Overcoming patterns of failure in small food producers through innovative enterprise frameworks. (A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the Master of Design Enterprise at Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand) [PDF 12.391 MB]
Abstract
This report describes the overall design process and entrepreneurial outputs of the third and final phase of the MDE.
The project comprises three components. First is the development and release of a fast-moving consumer good (FMCG) with suitable scalability for national and international distribution. Second is the use of a selective innovation frame- work for the rapid proto-typing of FMCG food products. Last is the development of a toolbox to help enable SME food producers to navigate the challenges of developing and distributing innovative and value-added food products.
For this to occur, innovation and creativity require a clear framework for viable and feasible development. To facilitate clarity in design thinking Vijay Kumar’s model of design innovation was used as a general methodology, customised at relevant stages according to the demands of the project.
This third phase report is the fusing of the knowledge gained in the first phase report where research was conducted on a local level at the Otago Farmers’ Market, and the second phase report where research was conducted on a national level for Foodstuffs.
In creating this fusion the third phase report seeks to examine three questions: 1) “If farmers markets are such good incubators how do you expand past the local level onto a national level?”; 2) “Is it possible to solve the failure rates in SME start up food businesses with design thinking?”; 3) “If the notion of sustainability can create leverage on a regional level, why not on a national level?”
The answers to these questions are intertwined, and while there may not be explicit answers individually to each of them, a larger holistic picture may occur.
Keywords: sustainable food production, quota management system, corporate and social responsibility, seafood harvesting, rapid prototyping, fast moving consumer goods
Timothy Lynch's primary supervisor was Nick Laird.
License
This thesis is available under a Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
