Strategy and Decision Making Assignment Sample

Introduction of Strategy and Decision Making Assignment

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In the last decade, food joints and restaurants have witnessed a significant change in the evolution of food varieties. People associated with the food production process bring new ideas and strategies to provide a unique experience to the consumers. Due to changes in the environmental phenomena and discarding animal cruelty, many food lovers are more inclined towards vegan food habits. Beyond Meat is the company that has brought the concept of plant-based Meat shifting from animal protein. The mission and vision of the company are to save the planet's environment by stopping animal cruelty and promoting healthier food habits. The company follows two factors to increase revenue growth. 

Internal and external analysis

Resources and capabilities 

The company is growing with a constructive plan, and it has two revenue structures retail and foodservice. In appendix 1, Beyond meat exhibits that the two revenue structures generate 50- 48% of profit margin. The company started with the name J Green Natural Food Co. in 2011. The company owner Ethan Brown has spent quite a time experiencing animal agricultural, meat-raising practices, animal protein consumption. Brown has shifted to a complete vegan structure because he has experienced clean energy technologies, effects of animal protein in human health, effects of livestock on greenhouse gas emission. Brown has hired skilled scientists, food technologists, and chefs of international repute to shape the portfolio of plant-based Meat. As per the view of PULKER et al. (2019), skilled employees have brought new varieties of food products like plant-based burgers and patties, Beyond Sausages, Beyond Breakfast Sausages. Ground Beyond Beef packages and many more. The company has partnered with K.F.C. to operate a single-day test by launching a new product, Beyond Fried Chicken. The K.F.C. has advertised it as the name of Kentucky Fried Miracle. The promotional event and single-day test have made the brand desirable, and the revenues shifted from $88 million in 2018 to a record $ 298 million in 2019. In May 2020, the company introduced a new updated version of the Beyond Chicken product. The company provides pea protein replacing the concept of Meat and prompting healthy food habits among people. 

Value chain

The company has partnered with many supply chains to supply fast - food volume and to cater to the needs of the consumers. The company's management says that the popularity of their brand comes from the diversification of the products. Cargill, a famous food production company, has invested $75million approx in Puris. Puris is the biggest pea protein producer and the biggest supplier of Beyond Meat. in appendix 1, the sustainability report of the company record that consumers and investors not only like the food products but also support the vision of eco-friendly concept and stopping animal cruelty. Beyond Meat has recently signed an agreement with Shuangta Foods, a Chinese company that provides 85% of pea protein to the company. The company has partnered with a reliable supply and distribution chain to get the standard quality raw materials and produce the food products.

PESTEL

Beyond Meat originated in the U.S.A. But Beyond Meat of the U.K. is considered to analyze the different strategic models in this report. In appendix 2, the PESTEL analysis strategic model is used to evaluate the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal issues of the U.K. according to the journal by STAN (2017), these factors directly affect the growth of the company in that domain. The external factors determine the sustainability element of Beyond Meat in the U.K. PESTEL analysis is an essential tool that helps business strategists get an overview and understand the macro-environmental factors that will impact the business structure. The country's political aspect has a robust democracy following a parliamentary system of government. The country is recorded as politically stable despite Brexit. Initially, it created a situation of uncertainty, but it has not impacted the country's economic development.

The country has maintained good relations with the United Nations. The country has supported new foreign investors to establish their ground. Beyond Meat has been endorsed by the nation's government because of its value-creating ideas. And to keep more green, the government has assisted the company. Economic factors help the company to generate more revenue in the large market of the U.K. The country provides a stable financial structure to support the company to flourish. The Bank of England has contributed 100 billion pounds to the country's economic development. The social factor provides the company with a healthy social background to flourish. The government is recorded as the base of a big consumer market. Maximum numbers of consumers help to shape the system of revenue generation. The country is considered to be the most technologically advanced, so it provides Beyond Meat with the facilities of technological amenities. The country is the hub of producing industrial types of machinery that will help in the company's manufacturing unit. The government of the country supports environmentally friendly ideas and stops animal cruelty. Hence, the company assists in promoting a healthy lifestyle and consuming plant protein (CORP, 2021). The strict arm force and security well secure the legal factor of the country. The company gets help from local police, and the government's security system makes laws to support and provide opportunities to foreign companies.

Five forces 

In the highly competitive market, the company forms different strategies to evaluate the business structure. In appendix 4, Porter Five Forces Model is used to assess the aspects of the business structure of Beyond Meat. According to the journal by TARRA et al. (2021), The model evaluates the factor of existing rivalries of the company. It helps to locate the barriers to making an entry into the foreign nation of the U.K. The model highlights the aspect of threats of substitutes in the highly competitive market. The model tells widely about suppliers' bargaining power and buyers' bargaining power. These are the factors associated with the company's revenue structure. The company has brought new revolutionary ideas, and the associated factors help the company to flourish and improve its quality. The consumer's demand for the best service and food quality from the company and evaluation through the model's lens helps to enhance its quality and discard its negative factor.

Ecosystem

An analysis of the products of Beyond Meat is given in detail, which supports eco-friendly ideas. Beyond burgers produce 90% less greenhouse gas emissions. Only 46% less energy power is used in production. The product has 99% less impact on water scarcity and 93% less impact on the land used for the company's operation. The products use plant protein and do not support animal cruelty. 

Competitor analysis

The competitor analysis helps the company determine its biggest competition and the factor that creates the differentiation between the companies in the food industry. In appendix 3, models of competitive strategy are examined used by the company. They follow the lowering barrier model to turn the meat-eaters into vegan consumers (SHEFFI, 2015). The model is designed to make plant-based alternatives mainstream. The company's biggest competitors are Impossible Foods, Cargill, Kellogg, Nestle. The competitive analysis helps the company to form a sustainable plan for the future.

Scope of the firm 

The company has developed the concept of veganism. Veganism is considered a niche habit, but now it has rooted in mainstream food habits. The brand promotes enabling consumers to 'Eat What You Love .'The shift from animal protein to plant protein helps take care of some global issues. The company takes care of human health, climate change, exploitation of natural resources, and promoting animal welfare (NICK et al., 2022). The company provides healthy food items and aims to bring change to the environment.

SWOT and Competitive advantage

The company focuses on the SWOT analysis to understand the internal advantages of the work environment. As per the view of HADDAD et al. (2021), the strategic model helps shape the company's competitive advantage. SWOT stands for the areas of strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats of the company. The strength is the production of nutritious food. They apply a good amount of application of plant meat. They are associated with the larger restaurants and food joints for the distribution of the product. A weakness is the lack of variety. The company has many opportunities as the alternative market of global meat marker. The products promote the eco-friendly concept of discarding animal security. According to the journal by MATHEUS et al. (2020), The threats are the social constraints as the society follows the general stereotype notion that Meat only makes it more robust and plant protein cannot. In appendix 5, a detailed analysis is given, pointing out all the features of SWOT. The company's competitive advantage is its branding strategy. The company focuses on the R&D department to improve their quality and discard competition. The company has highly loyal consumers who support the plant protein concept.

Conclusion and recommendation 

The report focuses on the strategic plan used by the company Beyond Meat. The company promotes vegan food and helps the world to save animal lives. Stopping animal cruelty will make a difference in the more significant impact on the environment. The strategic reports are designed with a broad discussion of internal and external factors with the help of the tools PESTEL and SWOT (NESTLE, 2013). The competitive analysis tells about the strategy used by the company to sustain itself in the competitive market. Resource and capability audit helps the report analyze the company's internal structure. Poster five forces are used in the strategic information to evaluate the company's business structure. The value chain, ecosystem, and scope of the firm are discussed to analyze the quality of the product and its distribution strategy.

Recommendation to the company will be they need to focus on the product's nutritional value. The plant meat needs to match up with the level of protein provided by the animal protein. The company needs to work on the taste and quality of the product. The company's management team needs to work on the marketing and sales department to brand identity. All these factors will help sustain the highly competitive food industry market.

References

MATHEUS, F., DURÁN, O., QUADROS, R., HOLGADO, M. and BATOCCHIO, A., 2020. Carving out New Business Models in a Small Company through Contextual Ambidexterity: The Case of a Sustainable Company. Sustainability, 12(6), pp. 2337.

POKER, C.E., TRAPP, G.S.A., SCOTT, J.A. and POLLARD, C.M., 2019. The Nature and Quality of Australian Supermarkets' Policies That Can Impact Public Health Nutrition, and Evidence of Their Practical Application: A Cross-Sectional Study. Nutrients, 11(4), pp. 853.

STAN, M., 2017. Healthy nutrition and health-washing corporate discourses across three organizations in the fast food and soft drinks industry. Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, 8(1), pp. 45-66.

CORP, N., 2021. Newsfile Corp.: The Very Good Food Company Reports Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results. Chatham: Newstex.

NESTLE, M., 2013. Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. 1 edn. Berkeley: University of California Press. 

SHEFFI, Y., 2015. The Power of Resilience: How the Best Companies Manage the Unexpected. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press. .

TARRA, S., MAZZOCCHI, G. and MARINO, D., 2021. Food System Resilience during COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Roman Solidarity Purchasing Groups. Agriculture, 11(2), pp. 156.

HADDAD, M.A., OMAR, S.S. and PARISI, S., 2021. Vegan cheeses vs processed cheeses – traceability issues and monitoring countermeasures. British Food Journal, 123(6), pp. 2003-2015.

NICK, T.C., TENPIERIK, M. and VAN DEN DOBBELSTEEN, A., 2022. Towards a More Sustainable Urban Food System—Carbon Emissions Assessment of a Diet Transition with the FEWprint Platform. Sustainability, 14(3), pp. 1797.

Appendix 1- Internal Analysis

Resource & Capability Audit:

The resource which can be touched	· Physical aspect	o heavy machiners and manufacturing units. o company's infrastructure and skilled employees. o Strategic distribution unit.
	· Financial aspect	o very little competition in the vegan food industry. o capable of high revenue generation.
	· Technological aspects	o the company uses a digital online marketing system. It is distributed in online retail stores.
	A resource that can not be touched
· creating brand name and brand value.		o focus on the consumer's demand o concentrate on providing quality, service, reliability o focus on the portfolio of the different products
· work culture of the company		o employees hired from diversified backgrounds. o employees hired from the food industry.
· Relationships		o Strategic planned partnership and agreement o connected with the investors o connected with distribution dealers and suppliers.
Capabilities/Competencies
· company can build a new strategy to promote vegan food habits. · Capacity to produce different food items only with pea protein · Operation of business and implementation of innovation through diversified food variety. · Planned to distribute the products in the strategic location. · bring out the innovation in designing food products as the healthier substitute for animal meat.

 

Value Chain:

Activities that help in designing the product	The infrastructure of the company	The company has a manufacturing unit with advanced machinery.
	Information system	Beyond Meat have their website and apps to deal with the consumers.
	Technology	They carry out online distribution of the product through apps.
Primary activities
	Operation	l the company has expanded in the five different countries. l hire the best panel of chefs and food technologists to bring out innovation.
	Marketing and Sales	The company has focused on digital marketing and in various events of saving the environment.
	Services	Provide tasty and quality products and promote healthy eating habits.

Appendix 2 - PESTEL analysis

Political	The U.K. has a stable political system and helps foreign companies to get an equal amount of opportunities	Beyond Meat to get political assistance from the British government to select locations for the operation office and distribution in the retail stores.
Economic	U.K. is recorded in the growth of G.D.P. and Banks of England has contributed significantly to the country's stable economic structure.	The company gets every aspect of economic assistance and grant to promote the noble cause and the food items.
Social	The country has a population of 68 million and has a cooperative social structure.	Companies get all the benefits from the knowledgable society and help to the distribution of the product.
Technology	The country is known to be technologically advanced and supports the infrastructure of the new establishment.	The company gets all the assistance to develop their technological aspects.
Environmental	The country helps in the cause of discarding animal cruelty and promoting healthy food habits.	The company gets assistance from the government to promote saving the earth.
legal	The company has a stable legal system	The company is guided by strict rules and regulations for smooth operation.

Appendix 3 - Competitor Analysis

Competitors' Analysis of Beyond Meat
Correspondence with the food industry.	Yes	Vertical Differentiators l third party distributor like online retail stores l restaurant joints E.g., Love Shack.		Direct Substitutors I direct distributors like retail stores Amazon, Walmart l Upscale e.g., restaurants like Holy Carrot, Tibits, the Full Nelson, etc.
IV		I
None	III	II
		No	l online marketing

Appendix 4

Figure no 1: Describes Porter's five forces model, which can be used as the company's strategic plan.

Source:(NICK et al. 2022).

Appendix 5- SWOT Analysis

Internal Factors
Strength: · creating value-oriented product · Corporate leadership and culture · Focusing on brand image & value · Planning strategic locations and distribution unit · diversification of portfolio · replacing animal protein and offering better substitutes. · Maintained team culture and encourage expertise knowledge to shed different perspectives to bring innovation	Weaknesses: · Poor Research quality and development process commitment/efforts (outsource) · Digital and data marketing and promotions are not sufficient enough · lack of product varieties and lack of presence in the international market.
Opportunities: · Bringing new strategies and developing new partnerships. · popularity of vegan Meat. · Customer behavior is changing and adopting the vegan food habits.	Threats: · Currency fluctuations due to political and emergencies like Covid-19. · social rigidity and constraints to adopting plant protein. · very competitive market and relacing the traditional meat lovers.