1. Microenvironment a. Company The core competency of Beyond Meat is to create plant-based alternatives to meat products that taste, smell and look as close to real meat as possible. Beyond Meat does this by investing a huge amount of money into research and development. In 2018, the company devoted $9.6 million more than 10% of its revenue into RED. [1] In the past 3 years, over $21 million was spent. [2] The company has a large analytical lab where testing is done every day with various machines that check for colour, consistency, rmness, smell, avour and appearance to try to improve the products. [1] The company can use this to help expand its product line. It is important for Beyond Meat to have a product as close to real meat as possible and does this by hiring many scientists and having rigorous testing of its products. Their team consists of people with backgrounds in biochemistry, biophysics, plant science, health care, technology and chemistry, all of which contribute their unique skills to improving the company's products. [3] Clearly focusing on product development and improvement, they employ 63 people in their R&D department. [2] The company also has purchased a new facility with a \"sensory lab\" used for blind taste testing by consumers. Beyond Meat employs environmental blockers to block out smell, noise, and whatever else they perceive may distract a person who is eating, so that they can get the most accurate results from these tests. [3] With this, the company can penetrate the market by satisfying more consumers and thereby expanding its customer base into other markets. Beyond Meat so far has been issued one patent in the US, but has 21 more pending in the US and overseas [2]. All of the factors discussed in this section are strengths of the company. They are all internal factors and are positive events for Beyond Meat