MGMT 7160 - Global Strategic Management

Beyond Meats struggles in the cost leadership category. As previously mentioned on the blog, they are working to get price parity with meat-based substitutes to remove the switching costs - their goal is by 2024 to achieve it in one product category.  Part of the problem with Beyond, unlike Impossible, was highlighted in a recent CNBC article ( https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/25/impossible-foods-beyond-meat-battle-price-parity-with-real-meat.html ) with three major reasons: "Many plant-based meat companies are new and haven’t had the years of production under their belt to match the levels of animal meat manufacturers." Beyond and Impossible were founded around the same time (2009 and 2011, respectively) whereas most traditional meat processors such as Tyson have been around for decades (Tyson since 1935 as an example). Beyond only currently has 6 manufacturing factories with 2 in Europe, 3 in America, and 1 just opened in China; Impossible has focused on partnering with a major...

Applying the VRIO framework to Beyond Meats, Inc. results in noting that there is a temporary competitive advantage with strengths and distinctive competence with the pea-based plant protein sourcing, manufacturing of their products, and focus for the company. To move to a sustained competitive advantage, they may need to diversify their sourcing out to include lab-grown meats once available to leverage their organization and R&D competencies to expand their reach to fulfill their non-animal-based protein vision. The Question of Value - "Yes" Yes; especially as they work to leverage changes in resource value through consumer tastes evolving more towards sustainable practices in their consumption habits - i.e., through products that match their views towards climate change, constraints on natural resources, animal welfare, and human welfare. Through their changing practices, whether going fully meatless or supplementing their diets with plant-based meals as evidenced by t...

In reviewing the environmental threats as opportunities section, it is not too difficult to apply some of these strategies to what Beyond Meat appears to be following, whether it is positively or negatively impacting the company. For a  "Neutralizing the Threat of Entry" opportunity perspective, the research and development efforts behind mimicking actual meat in their substitutes appear very well laid out with the following quotes from the text: "For example, a firm that invests in new technology to reduce its costs and deter entry has to absorb the large development costs associated with that new technology. Moreover, this firm has to absorb the substantial risk that the new technology will not perform adequately, despite the expense." (p. 77) In regards to their proprietary methods for making realistic meat substitutes, these are expensive and timely affairs - their chicken replacement took years of replication efforts; however, as noted in the last blog post, th...

The traditional meat industry in the US would be considered an oligopoly as "In the US, just 4 producers — Tyson Foods, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef — control more than two-thirds of all US beef processing." ( https://www.cbinsights.com/research/future-of-meat-industrial-farming/ ).  With the advent of the plant-based/meat alternative industry, I would classify Beyond Meats and other competitors to be competing in a monopolistically competitive industry - their products are not homogeneous in respects to product attributes, i.e., the product differentiation is in the underlying ingredient makeup and whether they are trying to replicate the mouthfeel/taste of meat (e.g., Impossible Foods or Beyond Meats) or not (e.g., Amy's Kitchen), and there are a large number of firms - there are over 100 food startups today working to replicate animal products with plants or lab-grown meat products.  To walk through Porter's Five Forces for Beyond Meats: The Threat of Entry - Hi...

Competitive advantage in the field of sustainable, meat alternatives such as Beyond Meats (or Quorn, Impossible Foods, or Lightlife, to name some competitors) is an interesting item to measure, especially since expanding beyond traditional meat replacements like tofu, seitan, or tempeh is relatively newer in attempting to actually replicate the taste and texture of meats.  The field is ripe for the major players as consumer tastes, particularly in America, continue trending more vegetarian and vegan-friendly foods and driving down emissions in agriculture ( https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/21/climate/plant-based-meat.html ). It is noted in "Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage" on page 17 that:  Geoffrey Waring found that, among other factors, firms that operate in industries that (1) are informationally complex, (2) require customers to know a great deal in order to use an industry’s products, (3) require a great deal of research and development, and (4) have signific...