Project
PROGRAMME
Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management
Bachelor of Business Administration Honours
MODULE
Marketing Management
INTAKE
January 2023
YEAR
One (1)
TOTAL MARKS
100
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT 2
[100 MARKS]
How Philip Morris Is Planning for a Smoke-Free Future
In 2016, Philip Morris International (PMI) announced that it was committing to a major business transformation — a move
away from cigarettes and other combustible tobacco products and toward healthier, smoke-free alternatives to nicotine
delivery. The goal by 2025, the company declared, was to get at least 40 million of its adult customers to stop smoking and
switch to one of the alternatives, with the goal, ultimately, of achieving a “smoke-free future.”
As an exclusive agent based in South Africa, you will be required to provide input in product launch and marketing .
Answer ALL the questions in this section.
Question 1
(25 Marks)
The risks from smoking tobacco are well documented and according to the (WHO), the tobacco epidemic is one of the
biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing more than 8 million people a year, including around 1.2
million deaths from exposure to second-hand smoke. Despite this fatality, the marketing of tobacco remains a lucrative
business.
Taking the contrasting statements above and additional research into consideration, discuss ways in which Philip Morris
can become a socially responsible tobacco marketer.
Question 2
(25 Marks)
Critically discuss the macro-environmental issues that a tobacco marketer such as Philip Morris will contend with.
Question 3
(25 Marks)
Companies must develop an action plan for introducing their new product/s into the market. Philip Morris International
(PMI) aims to get at least 40 million of its adult customers to stop smoking and switch to one of the alternatives, with the
goal, ultimately, of achieving a “smoke-free future.”
3.1 Philip Morris would aim their innovative products at consumers who are early adopters. Advise Philip Morris on how
to facilitate new product adoption using the five-stage consumer– adoption process model.
(10 Marks)
3.2 Consumers will adopt the Philip Morris innovative product differently. For any new product, there will be pioneers
and early adopters. The rate of adoption of an innovation is dependent on its inherent characteristics. Discuss why
the characteristics of new Philip Morris products will influence its adoption rate.
(15 Marks)
Question 4
(25 Marks)
Most marketing-oriented companies allocate the marketing communications budget over the simajor modes of
communication advertising, sales promotion, public relations and publicity, events and experiences, sales force, and
direct marketing. With advertising of tobacco products suppressed on national television and newspapers, how do you
perceive Philip Morris would reach its current and potential new customers to unveil their newly developed products.