What is all the fuzz about? A FMCG brand portfolio case study of formalisation in the front end of innovation

Sammanfattning: Title: What is all the fuzz about? A FMCG brand portfolio case study of formalisation in the Front End of Innovation. Date of the seminar: 23 May 2017 Course: ENTN39 Master ́s Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation Internship and degree project (Master ́s thesis 15 ECTS) Authors: Mink Kempen and My Magnusson Supervisor: Joakim Winborg Examiner: Ass. Professor Sotaro Shibayama Keywords: Decision Making, Formalisation, Front End of Innovation, Funnelling, New Product Development, Project Portfolio Management, Project Portfolio Objectives. Research question-/s: How does formalisation affect the FEI of a large brand portfolio company and how does formalisation in the FEI affect the project portfolio objectives? Methodology: This paper present a qualitative single case study within the Marketing Department of a large FMCG company in Sweden. Data from eight semi-structured interviews form the foundation of the primary data. The research is conducted with an abductive approach and analysed with the Gioia et al. (2012) method. Theoretical perspectives: The primary theoretical focus is on formalisation in the front end of innovation as there is no consensus on this topic. However, to contribute to a new theory field, a connection between formalisation in the front end is made regarding the three project portfolio objectives (strategic alignment, portfolio value maximisation and portfolio balance). Conclusions: Within the case company, we found that the front end of innovation is mostly formalised. This both positively and negatively affects the front end operationally. Moreover, front end formalisation was found to have a positive effect on the strategic alignment and portfolio value maximisation and a negative effect on the portfolio balance. Additionally, we found a conflict between the objectives, rooted in formalisation.