CASE 3#

1: Beyond Meat
Beyond Meat is a Los Angeles-based producer of plant-based meat substitutes founded in 2009
by Ethan Brown. An FAQ page this year followed a suspicious shortage in grocery stores earlier
from the lab-based food company in mid-April stating, “Unfortunately, our Chicken Strips weren’t
delivering the same plant-based meat experience as some of our more popular products.”

Many outside the “meat-craving vegan” circle were lukewarm in their response. Beyond Meat’s
decision to discontinue the chicken strips, a product with a modest yet passionate following,
came after a growing number of reviews saying the product’s likeness to real chicken was
tolerable, at best.

“The thick strands ... didn’t precisely resemble chicken strips, and when I tasted them
unadulterated I found it bland, unexciting and not very chicken-like,” former New York Times
food columnist Mark Bittman wrote in a review.

In addition, given the success Beyond Meat has experienced since its initial public offering, the
failure has been met with a shrug from Wall Street and investors. Beyond Chicken Strips were
the company’s first major product misstep. Beyond Meat CFO Mark Nelson stated the
discontinuation caused Beyond Meat’s frozen product revenue to decline by 5% last quarter, a
relatively small amount considering 90% of Beyond Meat’s revenue is generated through its
fresh products.
2: COMPAQ
COMPAQ became the largest supplier of PC's in the 1990s but they struggled to keep up in the
price wars against for example Dell, who innovated the value chain, by selling direct to
consumers.  

Companies were buying a lot of computer equipment, thanks to the Y2K issue. Compaq failed
to capitalize it. Its efforts to build a direct-order business were lackluster at best. It recognized a
need to sell directly to compete with Dell. Dell passed Compaq to lead the industry in PC sales
in 2001.
3: National Geographic
It is one of the most respected brands ever. Fox took them over for $750M, far less than the
value of 4 years of their cable revenues.National Geographic was presented with an idea to
start a new NG cable channel in the 1980s. The idea was refused by the board because they
were focused upon their traditional magazine featuring their renowned explorers. The group of
producers who pitched the idea launched their new competitor: Discovery Channel. In 1997, NG
launched a cable and satellite channel but it was too little, too late. By then, the Discovery
Channel was in thousands of households, and today the NG channel is only second in
viewership but much less in revenues.