Philip Morris Analysis Philip Morris is the worlds biggest tobacco company.

It owns 29% of the worlds tobacco shares and 7 of the top 15 cigarette selling brands, including Malboro. Also a stable company, it broke away from its parent Altira Group in 2009, stating that it would do better alone than with the Altira Group It obtains its material from over 37 countries and has 87,500 employees that could speak over 80 languages.

To provide high quality and innovative products to adult smokers, generate superior returns for shareholders, and reduce the harm caused by smoking while operating our business sustainably and with integrity.
PMs Mission Statement

Philip Morris has many positive values, although there is no evidence that Philip Morris actually follows this, except on its increasingly biased and exaggerated website. They claim to produce innovative and less harmful cigarettes, to promote sustainability, to employ diverse employees from a variety of countries, and to support charity programs all over the world. As the biggest tobacco company in the world, Philip Morris has many stakeholders. Smokers increasingly depend on this company, as they provide high quality tobacco products for them. Tobacco based agrarian countries, like Thailand and Dominican Republic, also depends on PM for its tobacco exports. The US depends on Philip Morris, as one of the USs biggest companies, to keep the US economy together. If this company falls, the US economy would surely become more unstable. According the Philip Morris website, it doesnt get the tobacco directly, but obtain them for over 30 countries; Philip Morris claims to follow the Fair Agricultural Practices program. However, there has been some evidence of workers exploitation. After obtaining the tobacco, it has an automated machine that could produce 20,000 cigarettes per minute. This explains its ability to be able to mass produce many cigarettes. It owns brands like Malboro, L&M and Chesterfield, some of the 22 brands they own. From the factories, the cigarettes are then wrapped in foil in a machine. PM claims that its machines never lose that element of human creativity, and inspection is always needed. From there, they get on trucks to get distributed. Apart from tobacco products, PM also own some food brands, although these brands are shadowed by PMs cigarettes. There is no evidence of what they claim to be there working conditions. In fact there is evidence that contradicts that statement. On the PMs website, they claim that we invest in you [the employee] However, a Humans Right Watch Group has published a report on PMs exploited workers in tobacco supplying farms. Philip Morris also claims to be actively donating to village charities, although there is no direct evidence of this elsewhere. As tobacco products are the main product of PM, they have received a considerable amount of criticism from many other organizations. Consumers of PMs products (smokers) suffer considerably. Because of this, Philip Morris has harm reduction schemes to reduce the harm of their cigarettes, and PM is also launching a new E-Cigarette campaign. The company actively invests in sustainability, although there is no direct evidence to support this. They also claim to support Fair Agricultural Practices, but they do not control the actions of their suppliers, which gives consumers doubts.

Strengths Owns 22 brands and co-owns 3 more brands (29% of the worlds tobacco market shares) making it the largest tobacco company in the world PM owns 22 brands, of which 7 of them are on the top 15 bestselling cigarette brands, like Malboro and L&M. It also owns 29% of the worlds total tobacco market shares, and has three times more employees than Japan Tobacco and twice the revenue of Imperial Tobacco. Famous advertising schemes for many lower brands While still part of the Altira group, it launched an advertising campaign for its brand Malboro, making the Malboro man, which was a huge success. It also sponsors F1 races, and on many occasions, the person dressed up as the Malboro man would come out and greet some of F1s fans. Unique products Next year, PM plans to launch its E-Cigarette campaign as part of its harm reduction projects. There seems to be a growing interest in ECigarettes, as it doesnt actually produce smoke by burning, but rather by heating, thus fooling many hard core smokers, who wish to smoke a harmless alternative. Apart from these projects, PM states that it embarks on a harm reduction campaign through cooperating with governments in smoking subsidies and through research.

Weaknesses Evidence of Child/Workers Exploitation Last year, a Humans Right Watch Group published a report stating that Philip Morris Kazakhstans Tobacco provider uses child labour and exploits workers. A woman told the Watch Group that we were like slaves to them. Although Philip Morris has stated that it was unaware of this and from now on will be more careful, some consumers are stating that PM has a direct obligation to invest in the employees, not mistreat them. This has stain the reputation of PM Has been part of many controversies Apart from using child labour and exploiting workers, Philip Morris has been in many controversies. The original Malboro man died of lung cancer in 1992, but it was not until 1999 that Philip Morris has recognized that smoking damages the lungs and the heart. Today, it operates a smoke quitting program, which could harm its company instead of benefiting it. Also, PM has also stated (to the Czech Government) that premature deaths from smoking benefited governments because smokers would not live to use healthcare or housing for the elderly, enraging many smokers. Brands in PM compete with each other A disadvantage of owning so many brands is that these brands compete with each other for monopoly in one country. For example, Malboro and L&M are currently competing for complete monopoly in the Thai market, damaging the company. Apart from this, Malboro was voted the #1 most valuable brand in the world, pushing out many other smaller brands that PM owned.

Objective Growing interest in E-Cigarettes There has been growing interest in E-Cigarettes. In China, every small stall has these new cigarettes for sale. The E-Cigarette market is unregulated, and PM has recognized this and is launching an E-Cigarette campaign in 2014. Although there is no evidence that E-Cigarettes are harmless, smokers prefer the E-Cigarettes because of the cost (you only have to buy one) and the possible misconception that it is safer than traditional cigarettes. These E-Cigarettes work on heating instead of burning, and doesnt used tobacco, but instead uses nicotine. Emerging Markets

Threats Smoking is Harmful The whole world recognizes this problem: smoking is harmful. It causes lung cancers and many other diseases. Even Philip Morris recognizes this problem, and this has been clearly stated in PMs website. Although it embarks on a harm reduction campaign, the overall public opinion is still against smoking, damaging Philip Morris and her brands. Although Philip Morris claims to be researching a safe alternative to smoking, it has yet to do so. Government Regulations Government regulations against smoking have always been the biggest threat to all tobacco company.

Markets in many countries are growing again, especially after the economic downfall of 2008. More than 300 billion cigarettes were purchased in 2010 in the United States alone, and significantly more in China. Supported by the fact that PM engages in a harm reduction campaign, these emerging markets might be PMs new source of profits.

Smoking regulations have made cigarette prices in Canada double over the last two years. This has made smoking rates in Canada drop by 25%. In Australia, the Labour Government of Kevin Rudd attempted to implement a plain packaging campaign, which PM has sued and the case was overlooked by the Australian Supreme Court. Economy not doing well After the severe stock market crash of 2008, PM is just recovering. The USs failure to raise its debt ceiling and the fact that Obama is not doing such a good job of being president has harmed the world economy. Although PMs revenues have doubled, it cannot survive another stock market crash, even if it was rating A in a long term stability report.

Steps The first things I found out about PM were that, like many big companies, they have a highly developed websites that could give you information on many elements regarding the company. Regardless of the state of biased, I firstly got my information from the PM website as it provided the most detailed explanations of the certain elements I wanted to know about PM. However, if the PM website was the only website that claims that, then in the text, I would state that no other sources have actually proven this or there is no direct evidence. I was able to find detailed descriptions on their production process and other parts, but I was able to find less evidence on the harm reduction program that they embarked on. As my research plan was going, I realized the need to stop referring to the PM website, because it was biased. Therefore, I went to find another perspective on PM. I diverted myself to the harshest critics of the capitalist system, the Socialist Worker, but found nothing of use. I soon found two articles, one from ABC news, on the exploitation of PMs worker. I used this in my SWOT analysis as a weakness, although I knew that PM was not responsible for many of the things that happened there, as it was the tobacco supplier, not PM, which was responsible for hiring children. The information collected was very helpful, as it proved to me that PM and many other corporate website were lying, and were there merely to make money for the society and to hide their mistreatment of the common working man. The advantages of this system (from looking at two opposite points of views) are that many opinions are obtained by this. Also, we get to see from perspectives of two different people who have different point of views on the world. However, a disadvantage of this is that one does not know which one to believe. As there were many facts, I chose to believe that one that I thought was going to be more truthful. Improvements that I couldve made is that Ive couldve gone to more websites that had a reputation of being neutral. Other than that, I thought my research was thoroughly carried out and I believe my facts are not biased.

Philip Morriss Website Current: According to the history of the website, the website has been last updated on November the 21st, 2013, when a report was added into the website. It was also updated on October the 27th and September of this year, making it current. Reliable: The data presented does not look reliable, as it is biased to the company and very rarely cites any reputable works from any works. However, some facts are reinforced by facts that I was able to find in other reputable websites, such as ABC news and BBC. Author: This sites ending marks is .com. It was written by PM, which makes it unreliable, but information that I got from this website I found in many other website, making this website quite reliable compared to other sources. Purpose: The purpose of this website is to spread corporate propaganda and to make smokers continue smoking by buying PM products because it engages in harm reduction. The author therefore presents a biased view. However, there are no adverts but there is a cookie policy. Wikipedia Current Wikipedia is possibly the most current source ever. Every day, there are 480,000 users that edit pages every day, and the page I visited was no exception. It was edited last month by a user, and the edit was approved by experts, making the article current. Reliable Wikipedia is possibly the most reliable source in the world; it allows user editing, pointing out of possibly wrong information, and stating articles that would likely be false. This article has a good rating, and cites reputable website, making it reliable. Author The author is probably neutral, and its Wikipedia policy to ensure that all its articles are neutral. Therefore, the point of view of this article is not biased to Philip Morris because there is no notice saying that the article might be biased.

ABC News:

Date 28.11.13

Action To find info on PMs production process

Source PMs Website

Info Found

-PM doesnt grow its own tobacco; it buys them from over 30 countries -PM has an automated machine that can produce 20,000 cigarettes per minute. -Other information on the production process

29.11.13

To find out info on PMs brands and its website

Wikipedia

-Tobacco: Malboro, LM, Bond Street, Chesterfield

-22 brands and co owns 3 brands -Other info on brands

30.11.13

To find info on People, Environment and News SWOT ANALYSIS

Multiple Sources

4.12.13

Mainly Wikipedia and its counterpart Wikiwealth

-Controversies and workers exploitation -Other info on controversies, working conditions and charity Many SWOT bullet points came from that