Room for Improvement

The food and tobacco industry is again made unique by its broad range of products, leaving room for a lot of innovation in the market regardless of the fact that many suppliers provide similar products. As stated in previous posts, key issues in the world right now are health, the environment, and cost efficiency; this trend leads to opportunities for innovation on those fronts. Through experimentation with recipes and different food combinations, anyone who is able to produce healthier food that is either cheaper to produce than it already is, or is higher quality than it already is will see a lot of success. By making great tasting, healthy products, one can see great success in the industry right now, and there is a lot of research going into ways to make healthier food.

The subject of health offers even greater innovation in the tobacco industry. With more information constantly going public on the dangers that come with tobacco use, there are countless ways a producer could change the industry. In recent memory, the E-cig, or electric cigarette, was a huge breakthrough in the tobacco industry. The electric cigarette allows its user to get nicotine into their body using water vapor, eliminating tobacco and additives. Not only does this significantly reduce lung damage, but also reduces second hand smoke due to the fact that nothing is actually burning (carbon monoxide is not taken in by bystanders.) Technology creating a "healthier cigarette" isn't the only place for innovation however, as many people would prefer to just stop smoking. Products that reduce withdrawals and ease the process of quitting also see constant improvements through product information. With things such as the patch and various sorts of medication, any break through that can further ease the quitting process would surely be profitable.

On the environmental front, packaging is where the opportunities lie. Companies such as Coke continue to make break throughs on making more environmentally friendly cans (85% of the containers distributed by coke containing coke products are 100% recyclable, and the remaining 15% are environmentally efficient,) and any ideas that change product packaging to better the environment will be picked up rather quickly. Also companies reducing waste emissions through production innovations will see success. In the tobacco industry there is less room for innovation on this front other than reducing carbon monoxide emissions from cigarette smoking or eliminating the frequently littered cigarette butts-- the E-cig is again a good example of this.

As far as cost efficiency goes, especially in the food industry which is suffering from rising commodity prices, there are multiple ways to make breakthroughs. By finding cheaper packaging methods, or cheaper ways to produce the food itself, there is much room for improvement. In order to save money there is also research being done on methods to conserve packaged foods for longer. When certain additives can significantly increase the shelf life of food without jeopardizing a consumer's health, it will surely cause commotion in the industry. The tobacco industry also faces issues with cost efficiency, as tobacco use is considered to be a very expensive habit. Things like the rechargeable E-cigarettes are marketed as being incredibly cost efficient, which is part of the reason it is seeing success on the market.

Whether it be in the areas of production, packaging, or health contents, it is easy to see that the food industry is no where near perfect, and will always welcome innovation with a good amount of success.

http://www.ECigarettesChoice.com/pages/Benefits.html

http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Processing/Coca-Cola-reports-progress-in-reducing-environmental-impact

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/package_design.html