(PMUSA) Locations of the Organization and Business Operations

The U.S. unit has various facilities within the country, such as its Center for Research & Technology (CRT), and its manufacturing, processing and also its support facilities in the Richmond, Va., area; in Chester is situated its Park 500 plant and in York its Manufacturing facility near Williamsburg; another manufacturing facility in located in Cabarrus County, N.C.; and its sales offices are crisscrossing both the U.S. And the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (PMUSA Website)

Regarding Philip Morris International, it owns in total 51 factories in 42 countries. Following the spin-off, its corporate HQ is in New York City, while the company's Operations Center is situated in Lausanne, Switzerland. Officially, Philip Morris International is a U.S.-based entity incorporated in Virginia. (PMI Website)

Philip Morris position towards environmental, political, social, economic, legal and labor forces of the international economy

Given the social, legal and political pressures the tobacco sector - and consequently also Philip Morris - develops its activities, the company's politics regarding each of these factors tend to be strict, respecting the same basic principles, aiming for the goal of being a socially responsible company, both at local and global levels.

In order to reach its goal, the company declares its responsibility towards:

its products and the dangers of smoking, "striving for comprehensive tobacco regulation, keeping our products away from children, and investing in the research and development of potentially less harmful products;" (PMI Website) the fair treatment of all company's employees, customers and suppliers, the promotion of "sustainable tobacco farming, the efficient use of natural resources, the reduction of waste in our manufacturing processes, eliminating child labor, and giving back to the communities" in which the company operates (PMI Website)

The same social responsibilities are cited equally on the Philip Morris USA Website.

Conclusion

On a market that has been for years under the attack of regulators and public opinion, offering a maybe ethically disputable product (that has its own well established demand on the international market), Philip Morris (being it the U.S.A. Or the International entity) has proved to be a very intelligent competitor, that knew how to adapt to harsh market conditions and strive for new territories to conquest, by adapting to local smoking restrictions and in the same time developing extensively its market.

It is a company that has agreed to the negative outcome to the consumer of its products and has invested impressive amount of money to make its products less toxic, or into many social causes.

As any business, it does not do social work. All its actions are part of its strategy to continue to lead the old and new markets and be profitable, to make the company visible to its target consumers and associate its image with what the consumers are looking for from a social and economic point-of-view.

B1, Retrieved online on April 28, 2008 at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120235550960649857.html
Figure 2 - Source: McKay, Betsy, (2008, February 7), Where There's Smoke: Emerging World, Wall Street Journal, p. B1, Retrieved online on April 28, 2008 at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120235550960649857.html

Annex 3

Philip Morris International, (2008, March11), PMI - a Compelling Investment, New York, Retrieved on April 28th at http://www.philipmorrisinternational.com/global/media/PC/PMI_selectslides_031108.pdf