Three new online marketing courses by Saint Joseph’s University now are being offered by the Snack Food Association, and as a special offer, tuition for employees of member companies for all courses offered by Saint Joseph’s via the SFA will be free through January 2008. The courses are:

New Food Product Development I: Background, Strategy and Early Stage Development — Available December 15, 2007, this course covers issues related to new product strategy, including the importance of new product development; value creation; types of innovation and new products; new product failure and success; the new product process; organizational structures for new product development; and early stage development activities, including opportunity assessment, ideation, concept development and testing, product testing and shelf-life testing, and scale-up from the bench to the pilot plant.

New Food Product Development II: From Marketing Plan through Launch — Available January 1, 2008, Part II will pick up where Part I (still available) ends. Discussed will be elements of the marketing plan needed to support new product introduction, including packaging design and development, brand name, positioning, pricing, advertising and promotion. Also discussed will be the launch process, including coordination of sourcing, production and logistical activities, the sell-in process, and execution of the launch, from start ship through monitoring the launch.

Title: Developing a Business Plan: Understanding your Company, the Environment, and the Customer — Available January 1, 2008, the second course in this series deals with the financial and quantitative elements of the business plan, and builds upon the initial course (still available) that is designed to help students through the first steps of business planning. It is appropriate for those writing a business plan for a start-up venture, those developing a new strategy for an ongoing enterprise, or individuals trying to evaluate existing strategies. The first course also deals with understanding the business, customers, environment, and yourself — all crucial to success.

For more information and to register for the courses, please visit www.SFA.org and click on Knowledge Center.