CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

New product development is not only an essential ingredient in effective marketing but also indispensable is very persuasive. Although in practice it is mostly applied in production of new and better methods in an enterprise operations (process technology) aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness.

The society we found ourselves is in a state of flux and therefore the only thing that is stable is change. The needs nad wants of the inhabitants of the society are changing by the day. Sequel to this the firm must innovate or perish. Therefore the products developed should be able to meet the dynamic need of the target market, for market to be secured.

Hence adequate marketing research has to be effectively conducted before coming up with a product otherwise  its sale will hit the rock.

Product development is absolutely pivotal to future marketing success. The major goal of product development is modify products so as to better satisfy needs at reduced costs and also make the management of an organization to obtain a competitive advantage and customer loyalty.

Therefore, this chapter will deals with a view of earlier work on the subject matter.

• BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Nigerian economy has recently recorded growth in some of its major sectors, among which is the bottled water manufacturing industry. In the past this sector comprise of very few companies who could not meet the market demand of portable drinking water in the country. Due to the untapped opportunity in this sector, a lot  of mushroom operators ceased advantage to market very poor quality unbranded products popularly regarded as “pure water”.

However, with the economic reforms still taking place, a lot of government enforcement agencies such as National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) and Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) have intervened by clearing up the cities of inferior products (pure water).

Although, growth in the bottled water industry is not rapid, one can appreciate the level of sanity in the sector. The improvements noticed in the product quality can be traced to its packaging, labeling, branding and its contents. With the relatively slow growth experienced in this sector competition has began to intensity and since price war is not too common, firms must resort to other strategies (New product development, promotion and distribution).

Product are the linking point and relying totally on old or existing products will be a stupid, ides. Companies here to innovate, whether by differentiating or diversifying their product portfolio, there is the need for bottled water producers to invest heavily on research and development in order to continually meet the ever-changing demand of consumers.

New product development is the process of creating something entirely new or adjusting and existing product to thing entirely new or adjusting and existing product to better satisfy customers needs and wants (Bassi, 2006)

New product development is one of the avenues of enlarging the size of a firms products portfolio although, any firms seem not to have recorded much success in this area due to depressed global economy, it is imperative to recognize the fact that necessity gives birth to depressed global economy, it is imperative to recognize the fact that necessity gives birth to invention and organizations who refused to innovate will be forced out of the market.

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