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Peer Review the essay below. This week’s focus is on…
Peer Review the essay below. This week’s focus is on Macroenvironment Analysis to assess the Industry Environment of your Beyond Meat.
Criteria for Peer Review
1) Was the industry identified in the paper? – 1 point
2) Did the person focus on analyzing the whole industry rather than just the assigned company? – 2 points
3) Were all six microenvironment factors addressed? – 1 point
4) Did each factor have a well-balanced discussion of threats and opportunities? – 4 points
5) Were more than enough sources used to provide a balanced/objective industry analysis? – 1 point
Beyond Meat
Beyond Meat is a company specializing in making substitute meat using plant products. The company is based in Los Angeles and produces plant-based substitutes for meat. Beyond Meat was founded by Ethan Brown in 2009. Ethan remains the CEO up to date. Generally, the food industry has advanced and is developing meat replacements by utilizing plant products. These products meet the demands of consumers, and the industry focuses on ensuring enough supply of viable food in the future. These products have the same profiles nutritionally, just like the meat obtained from animals. Meat substitutes are essential as they reduce the adverse effects of the animals typically on the environment.
However, animal products are also unhealthy when consumed in large amounts as they exacerbate some human diseases. For example, excess processed, and red meat consumption predisposes people to coronary heart disease, certain cancers (typically colorectal cancer), stroke, and type 2 diabetes (Broad, 2020). The industry that focuses on making alternative meat products proves excellent innovation and a serious concern for the health of human beings hence should be facilitated and funded to ensure a continuance of excellent work. Companies like Beyond Meat were created to enhance that activity. This writing analyzes factors affecting Beyond Meat and the food industry and provides an overview of the industry and the company.
Macroenvironment-Opportunities and Threats
Legal/Politic
Politically the food industry globally changed in the 20th century (Sievert et al., 2021). Some people and states prefer substitutes for meat products, while others do not. This is both a threat and an opportunity. The companies that make meat products must focus on producing tasty and quality products and market them effectively to attract customers. It is also a chance to provide services and goods to the people, hence an important opportunity for the industry and Beyond Meat as a company. Conversely, it is a threat because some people or regions prefer real meat and disapprove of processed substitute meat.
If the commodity passes through the factory and is processed, politicians could deem it unhealthy and prefer real meat sourced from animals. It is anticipated that the meat supply could reduce by 33% or more by 2040, and cultured meat and vegan alternatives will take the place of real meat (Van Loo, Caputo & Lusk, 2020). This is an opportunity for the plant-based products industry and companies to take and venture into meat substitute production. Beyond Meat, companies in the same industry have been facing a slowdown in sales due to inflation in food prices. Animal meat is less expensive than plant-based meat products. This poses a threat to industry and companies making alternative meat products. Some even argue that the companies could have reached the optimum customers willing to buy or try the sausages and faux burgers repeatedly. Furthermore, in the last six months of 2022, there were concerns about the product’s Beyond Meat safety health issues, such as listeria and apparent mold, which threaten the company.
Economic
Animal agriculture confers vital challenges to sustainability. Alternative meat products are the solution to ensure more meat products are available for people in the future. As the economies and population increase, the land for animal agriculture is reducing. Humankind is constructing structures in every place that they can. Companies can benefit economically by producing alternative plant-based meat products (Singh et al., 2021). These products mimic the gustatory experience, taste, and texture of conventional meat. The products can replace meat with no single content of an animal product. Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger are the common brands; however, other companies have also observed this opportunity and are making profits as companies with many employees. Cellular agriculture allows the production of cultural meat, whereas science is used to grow conventional meat. This is another opportunity in the industry that is in use. When alternative meat is globally available to people, it poses economic, environmental, and social implications, which result in threats and opportunities.
The increase in substitute meat sectors can create various opportunities for individuals to venture into agriculture and grow crops used in making the products, hence improving their economies and living standards. The farmers could grow ingredients for plant-based meat products like soy for these companies. They could also grow protein crops like lentils, peas, and mung beans. Peas are the main ingredient for Beyond Meat, and farmers growing the product have ready markets. Alternative meat product production, however, causes an immediate risk to ranchers, livestock producers, and farmers (Sievert et al., 2021). The investment in animal production could reduce due to decreasing market as alternative meat products is competitive. Soon, people with ranches and livestock could lose their business because of the increasingly competitive substitute meat products. Those whose livelihoods depend on livestock production could face significant loss and economic reduction. People are also unlikely to shift from meat consumption to alternative products. Many people still prefer real meat today, and this is a threat to the alternative meat products industry because getting many customers is a challenge.
Technological
People used to grow food on a small scale. Things have changed in the wake of the new technology and the emergence of industries that use assembly lines in production processes. With the technology available today in the industries, an opportunity is clear that alternative meat products can be processed in factories. The culture of meat products is also due to technology implemented in molecularly establishing meat products humans can consume (Tosun et al., 2021). The current food crisis requires technology and innovation in making better substitute meat products. The plant-based meat products industry should specialize in innovation and improve the technology of processing products as it is an opportunity to provide proteins to people safely by avoiding the common diseases triggered by excess consumption of processed and red meat. The developments have recently increased a fascinating possibility, meaning technology and science offer a solution to reduce the food crisis by producing plant-based meat products. Many companies are developing alternative meat products, earning many people income, especially the employees and those associated directly and indirectly with the companies. The organizations have an opportunity of developing the products and reach new milestones regarding quantity, affordability, and quality every year that passes by. Eating plant-based meat products is healthy and could reduce the challenges the animal products are linked to, such as human health (Van der Weele et al., 2019).
On the other hand, when used in processing food products, technology poses a risk to humans. The organizations processing these products use fuel that results in smoke, increasing global warming. In addition, processed products are not 100% healthy; hence these plant-based meat products could contain some chemicals and increase the risk of other diseases.
Social and Environment
Food is now being produced in factories, increasing the harm it poses to humans, the environment, and non-humans. The food system in place today kills and harms more than 60 billion animals on land yearly. This is a threat to plant-based products as the companies release by-products to the environment, which cause pollution like fumes and release polluted water. The increase in technology came along with demerits, especially to our environment. From a social perspective, it is expected that with the increase in plant meat products in the market, their prices could end up less than the meat itself, making it affordable to many people, and this is an opportunity (Treich, 2021). However, a threat is that when more ingredients are grown to ensure efficient supply to the companies producing these products, the land could become smaller to accommodate them, reducing the future supply of alternative meat products.
Meat products predispose humans to type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer. This is a chance to invest in the alternative meat industry and produce quality products to sustain the protein need of people around the world (Singh et al., 2021). The farmers can produce alternative meat products’ ingredients and facilitate diversification from their performed initial activities. For example, this industry facilitates farmers’ transition into planting seaweed, algae, mycoprotein, and other products containing proteins. People keeping poultry could also change and start keeping mushrooms. People’s lifestyles improve when employed by the companies making these products or are involved in producing the raw materials. This improves social well-being; hence, the plant-based meat industry is an excellent opportunity to embrace.
Demographics
The number of people living on earth is currently approximately 8 billion. Food is scarce, and land fertility is reduced due to the use of fertilizers and chemicals. People have also constructed many buildings which reduce the land or agriculture (Thavamani, Sferra & Sankararaman, 2020). Therefore, the anticipated production of meat in the future is less, and this is a chance to venture into alternative meat production. The number of people is also increasing; hence, meeting the protein requirement requires development and ensuring a solid foundation for alternative meat production. However, because more land has been used in the construction of various architectural structures ranging from roads, railways, airports, and buildings, the land is needed to meet the future requirement of the ingredients to make alternative meat products. Furthermore, red meat triggers certain diseases in humans, which have led to the death of many people globally; therefore, producing alternative meat products is a chance that needs severe investment and analysis.
Global
Globally processed meat and red meat are often eaten by people. Scientific analysis has proven them not healthy when used in more quantities or consumed at frequent intervals by humans. The current food methods involve technological methods that cause adverse side effects to people. In order to shift to safer products, plant-based meat products should be a number one priority to help salvage people and offer assurance of a safe and quality protein product to be consumed daily by people (Gerhardt et al., 2020). In a country like Australia, people like feeding on beef, and changing such people to adopt plant-based meat is a challenge. The rising human population requires a plan to ensure food security and quality health. This grants an opportunity for alternative-based companies like Beyond Meat to be innovative and take adequate measures to improve their products and produce more to save people from hunger. Most plant-based meat products are processed in industries and require careful consideration to reduce possible harm through chemicals used in preserving them. This is a threat globally regarding the alternative meat products industry. The cultured and plant-based production facilities create employment in global societies and urban centers. We must develop an effective strategy for implementing cultured and plant-based meat products to sustain people globally and improve food security.
