Documenting a technopreneurial endeavor: the case of powdered egg

Date

2010

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

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Abstract

New technology has been very common and readily acceptable to the country nowadays. Businesses has adapted to these changes and applied it to their very advantage. Even product generation is mostly technology based right now. One relatively new product to the Philippines would be the powdered egg. There are currently no producers in the country however there are consumers of this product. This was an opportunity that was focused on by this study. Common egg forms in the Philippines do not contain the frozen egg and the powdered egg forms. Emergence of such types of egg products is undergoing in the international market and becoming a standard in some industries. There are identified users of powdered and frozen egg here in the country. Powdered eggs are more cargo friendly thus a kilo of it can be converted to more eggs compared to the frozen form of egg. The entrepreneur was to produce his very own version of the powdered egg in his very own kitchen and evaluate the market‟s feedback on the product. Though there are users, most institutional buyers still use the fresh egg for their businesses. The current state of the market is halved between users and non-users and to the extreme at that. A study between the state of the current market and the state of the potential market can therefore be done. This study aims to analyze market acceptance and opportunities for the powdered form of the egg. The study focused on institutional buyers only since the Philippine consumer market has been assessed by Evans (Poultry International) to be not yet ready for paying extra cost for the added security in food in terms of microorganism contamination. Same goes for China and other neighboring countries in Asia. Current users were identified through chain referral sampling, a sampling suitable for hidden populations. The common form of chain referral sampling was the snowball sampling – the sampling method used for the current users. The current users sample‟s geographic area was also used for potential users in order to identify where the potential users‟ pool of possible respondents will come from. The areas of Pasig, Parañaque, and Mandaluyong were where the current users are. They are mostly large companies and potential users were mostly micro scale in size. The Department of Trade and Industry‟s classification based on the number of employees was used to classify the respondents. Bakeries were the industry in interest in the study since it can be said that this industry makes heavy use of eggs. The study was descriptive in nature. The paper showcases the experiences of the entrepreneur from the idea generation up to the conclusion of the current state of the product. Tests included acceptance through sensory evaluation and extensive product evaluation wherein the powdered egg in question was tested by the respondents in their own way – the equivalent of product placement test for the consumer market. Some questions such as willingness to purchase and difficulty during usage were also asked from the respondents. Usage of powdered or fresh egg was also considered as to determine possible market sizes for the powdered egg. Comparison using mean rating and frequencies was used to determine the implications and findings in the study. The geographic location did not show much impact on how the acceptance or feedback of the product would be. It can be said that the samples were almost homogenous in nature. This means that there can be general implications can be made, still it does not

eliminate the fact that specific implications can be generated. There are a total of 142 respondents, seven of which are current users. Most potential users are micro scale bakeries while current users are mostly large scales in classification. Implications show that the powdered egg is inferior to the imported ones currently being used by the Philippine market. This was also pointed out by the current users but still showed willingness to buy if the product was to be improved. In this light, the current users are the most likely target if the product is to be released in the market. The results of the tests imply that the current buyers of the powdered egg are willing to buy such product if the price offered is lower than their current powdered egg. The color of the powdered egg in question was the issue because of this. Findings point to the problem with color and the texture of the powdered egg. The color may affect the color of the final product in which powdered egg is the raw material. The texture was crucial to flour millers as they want to disguise the powdered egg making the final product homogenous giving the “no eggs needed, just add water” effect. This may be a simple task since grinding the egg more can solve the texture however the process of producing the home made powdered eggs needs to be drastically improved. Potential users were mostly not happy about the powdered egg. Problems point to the baker‟s ability to use egg in the recipe and the issue of the powdered egg being “artificial”. Also, it can be said that the level of education of the baker in terms of baking only can be an important factor in the acceptance of the powdered egg. This case was not investigated further though. Another factor that is a possible contender for the factors of acceptance is the market that the bakery is serving. The bakeries that turned down the interview said that they do not use eggs in their baking. The bread recipe they had were “ordinary” as they call it. The cost of incorporating egg into the recipe does not help at all since the bakeries were serving the D and E markets. A major reason to decline the interview other than the usage of egg would be that these bakeries do not bake the bread at all. They are sourced from one location and was just delivered to them. This may mean that the single location produces in bulk – a suitable production process that the powdered egg may be acceptable in and at the same time was assessed to be a potential market. The study points that the process of powdered egg may undergo modification since the heat applied and method of powdering the product is different from how the imported powdered eggs were made. The modification may come from food technologists or engineers. This should improve the overall appearance and sanitary conditions of the powdered egg. The improvements however may not prove that the powdered egg will be marketable as there are many other factors. Another observation is that fluffiness and emulsifying effect are not important attributes for potential users thus making the improvements for these attributes the least in priority. Market education and increasing the awareness of potential users is a crucial step before being able to market the powdered egg successfully. The study that may follow could also change the industry being evaluated as a market. Powdered egg can be used for health drinks and fortification of food products meaning these industries can be a potential market.

Language

English

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Document Type

Thesis

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