Smart Balance, which markets "heart healthy" merchandise such as low-cholesterol spreads, peanut butter, popcorn, cooking oil and milk, stays leans itself with an emphasis on new-product innovation
and just 67 employees, Joann S. Lublin reports. Its revenue doubled last year to about $222 million and CEO Steve Hughes thinks it can reach $1 billion by 2014, with most of the increase coming from
new products.
Kara Gruver, head of the North American consumer-products practice for Bain & Co., says Smart Balance's model "plays to their strengths," by keeping new-product development
and marketing in house but using outside vendors for other functions. More consumer-products companies are looking at outsourcing, she says, as sales lag and capital remains scarce.
Among
the ideas Smart Balance CEO Steve Hughes proffers for developing new products with little staff are to "create a focused new-product process mixing creativity and practicality" and "invest in building
the brand, rather than physical assets."
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