Publications

September 1990 (Revised April 1993)
Case

Following the company's purchase as a part of a leveraged buyout, the new management team of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. had to decide what to do about the build-up of excess inventory of its independent wholesale customers. The case introduces students to the problems... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Customer Satisfaction; Business or Company Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Consumer Products Industry

November 2001
Case

Tobacco and the Future of Rural Kentucky

By: Ray A. Goldberg and James M Beagle

Governor Patton decides how to use settlement funds to develop a long-term plan for Kentucky's tobacco producers and rural communities. View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Social Issues; Laws and Statutes; Rural Scope; Policy; Business and Community Relations; Government and Politics; Kentucky

September 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Background Note

A Brief History of the U.S. Tobacco Industry Controversy

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Henry McGee

This history of the U.S. tobacco controversy is a reading for a class on "The Insider," a film about whistleblowing in the U.S. tobacco industry, taught in the course, The Moral Leader. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Ethics; United States

November 1992 (Revised October 1993)
Teaching Note

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (TN)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Charles A Nichols, III

Teaching Note for (9-191-038). View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products Industry

January 1994
Case

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (Abridged)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Julie H. Hertenstein

Keywords: Consumer Products Industry

11 Feb 2014
News

Thank You For Not Selling: Historian Nancy Koehn On CVS' Tobacco Ban

Book Review

Review of Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence, by Jordan Goodman

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Keywords: Social Issues; Consumer Products Industry

November 2013 (Revised June 2014)
Case

E-Cigarettes: Marketing Versus Public Health

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were heralded by some as a healthcare game changer, enabling smokers to switch to a new product which carried lower risk of cancer. However, there were concerns about the public health risk of e-cigarettes, particularly the chance... View Details

Keywords: Public Health; Tobacco; Smoking; Cigarettes; Electronic Cigarettes; Cancer; Lung; Lorillard; Philip Morris; Safety; Technological Innovation; Conflict of Interests; Market Entry and Exit; Marketing; Health; Advertising; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry

May 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Debt Policy at UST Inc.

UST, Inc. is a very profitable smokeless tobacco firm with low debt compared to other firms in the tobacco industry. The setting for the case is UST's recent decision to substantially alter its debt policy by borrowing $1 billion to finance its stock repurchase... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Consumer Products Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

23 Apr 2014
HBS Case

Are Electronic Cigarettes a Public Good or Health Hazard?

for young people to start smoking tobacco cigarettes, or even lure ex-smokers back to the habit. This has created a dilemma for health regulators, says Quelch, interviewed before the FDA's action. Do they regulate e-cigarettes in order to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage; Advertising

October 2011 (Revised October 2013)
Case

A New Financial Policy at Swedish Match

By: Bo Becker and Michael Norris

Swedish Match is a profitable smokeless tobacco company with low debt compared to other firms in its industry. The firm's CFO now wants to revise the firm's conservative financial policy. View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Corporate Finance; Sweden

October 1989 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Smoke Wars: The Case for and Against the Cigarette Industry

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes the arguments for and against the tobacco industry. With the per capita demand for cigarettes steadily declining by 2% to 3% every year, the tobacco companies have been using various approaches to stem the tide. Many such moves, however, have come under... View Details

Keywords: Debates; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Performance; Social Issues; Consumer Products Industry

23 Jun 2015
Video

Innovation and the Retailization of Health Care

23 Apr 2014
News

Are Electronic Cigarettes a Public Good or Health Hazard?

04 Aug 2014
News

Why You Must Pay Attention to Bad Vibes

Research Summary

Overview

By: Robert J. Dolan

Professor Dolan's research interests including product policy and pricing. These areas have been the subject to two books, Managing the New Product Development Process and Power Pricing:How Managing Price Impacts the Bottom Line. In addition, he works on the societal... View Details

Research Summary

Public Health Debate Over Smoking

In research relevant to the current public health debate about smoking, Professor King and co-authors examine the effect of the tobacco settlement on cigarette advertising in magazines, the advertising behavior of cigarette companies in recruiting underage teenagers... View Details

February 2002
Background Note

States vs. Microsoft, The

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris

Although the federal Justice Department managed to settle its massive antitrust litigation against Microsoft in 2001, the state suit against the company continued. State attorney generals, perhaps emboldened by their recent victory over the Big Five tobacco companies,... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Public Ownership; Private Ownership; Negotiation Deal; Goals and Objectives; Lawsuits and Litigation; Decision Making; Information Industry; Legal Services Industry

March 2014
Teaching Note

E-Cigarettes: Marketing Versus Public Health

By: John A. Quelch

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were heralded by some as a healthcare game changer, enabling smokers to switch to a new product which carried lower risk of cancer. However, there were concerns about the public health risk of e-cigarettes, particularly the chance... View Details