Factors Influencing Industry Uptake of Marketing and Supply Chain Innovations Promoted by the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre

This study identifies factors influencing the Australian seafood industry’s adoption of marketing and supply chain innovations created from public-private funded research and development (R&D). A grounded theory approach was followed by comparing and contrasting the evidence from 35 projects funded by the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). This research showed that: 1) the level of confidence in the value proposition of an innovation is a crucial condition in determining industry uptake of research outcomes and innovations, with organizational, seafood sector and environmental factors also playing a role; 2) to increase the industry level of confidence in a value proposition, researchers need to test hypotheses on benefits, costs and risks of an innovation through focused consumer and market research; and 3) to design effective consumer research, project managers need to establish clear, open and non-judgemental communication guidelines among project stakeholders during the project design stage. While focused on the Australian seafood industry the outcomes of this study could be applied through further research to other industries and countries to help construct and/or analyse the best environment for effective marketing and supply innovations to be adopted. Keynote: Innovation, public-private partnerships, marketing, seafood, project management, Australia.