Philip Morris International Explain Strategic Plan Selected

Philip Morris International explain strategic plan selected company pursues regard business countries.

Company: Philip Morris International

Phillip Morris, one of the leading international tobacco companies, is split into two divisions: Phillip Morris International and Phillip Morris USA. The reason for this bifurcation is not administrative, but legal. Officially, Phillip Morris USA proclaims that there is no safe cigarette, and admits that quitting smoking is difficult. Its CEO recently proclaimed: "Because tobacco use is addictive and can be very difficult to quit, our tobacco companies help connect adult tobacco consumers who have decided to quit with cessation information from public health authorities" (Galuszka 2011). Phillip Morris USA must also comply with U.S. regulations banning televised cigarette advertisements and cigarette advertisements aimed at minors.

Internationally, however, smoking is far more acceptable socially than it is in the U.S. While consumption of cigarettes is going down in the U.S., it is actually escalating abroad. Because Phillip Morris International is not bound by U.S. laws, it can market cigarettes far more aggressively and in ways that would not be acceptable in the United States. An example of this is the Marlboro Intense brand, recently test-marketed in Turkey. "A shorter version of the flagship smoke, Marlboro Intense has tobacco packed more densely so a smoker can get a quicker nicotine kick when time is of the essence -- say, eating out at a smoking-restricted restaurant or working in a smoke-free building. Another product, fatter cigarettes called Marlboro Wides, was test-marketed in Portugal in 2006. The following year, the company introduced Marlboro Mix 9, a high tar and nicotine cigarette, in Indonesia, where more than half of all males smoke daily" (Galuszka 2011).

Internationally, tobacco products can -- and are -- marketed for their strength and potency. Phillip Morris' split structure allows the company to pursue such a two-pronged strategy -- publically moralizing about tobacco through its U.S. mouthpieces, while openly seeking new customers through its international branch. Its internationally-marketed products are blatantly more addicting. And because the developing world and nations in Asia and Europe do not have the type of anti-smoking federal policies and aggressive public health campaigns of the U.S., there is not the same drive and urge to quit amongst the populace, giving Phillip Morris a captive audience of consumers for unique new tobacco products.