Analyzing Kluger Deal & Strategies for Uniplex in Tobacco Industry Settlements, Assignments of Introduction to Business Management

Download Analyzing Kluger Deal & Strategies for Uniplex in Tobacco Industry Settlements and more Assignments Introduction to Business Management in PDF only on Docsity! Assignment #2 Topic: Tobacco Industry Settlements Textbook Readings: 1. Review the contents of the video, “Inside the Tobacco Deal” which was shown in this course. This summarizes the litigation and political climate up to the failed attempt to reach a political settlement in 1997. The following articles are included as representatives of the volume of material available in the literature which deals with the regulation of the tobacco industry and litigation issues. Some or all of it may be useful in responding to the assignment questions. 2. Case Study – The Tobacco Deal 3. Kluger, “A Peace Plan For The Cigarette Wars.” New York Times Magazine April 7, 1996 4. Torry, “In Landmark, Tobacco Firms Lose…” International Herald Tribune, 7/9/99 p.3 5. Turley, Jonathan “The New Profiteers…” WSJ, 9/20/99 6. Faircloagh, Gordon “Philip Morris May Be Opening the Door…” WSJ 2/29/00 7. “3 Smokers Win…” Boston Globe 4/8/00 8. “Big Tobacco Gets…” DDN 7/15/00 9. “Award Not Expected…” DDN 7/15/00 10. “Ailing Smokers…” DDN 7/15/00 11. Winter, Greg “Jury Awards $5.5 Million in a Secondhand Smoke Case” NYT 6/20/02 12. Winter, Greg “Tobacco Company Reneged on Youth Ads, Judge Rules” NYT 6/7/02 13. Leeman, Sue “Britain says goodbye to tobacco ads” DDN 2/18/03 14. Baker, Al and Fuerbringer, Jonathan “Shift in Bonds Has States Rethinking Tobacco Plans” NYT 4/10/03 15. Bischoff, Laura A. and Richey, Diane “Hands off tobacco money, protesters tell state” DDN 4/9/03 16. Luke, Susan “Philip Morris Bond Reduced” DDN 4/15/03 P. D1 17. Butterfield, Fox “Bill to Bar Suits Against Gun Industry Stuns Crime Victims” NYT 4/21/03 1 18. Meier, Barry “Hugh Award for Smokers is Voided by Appeals Court” NYT 5/22/03 19. Ambrose, Jay “Smokers World No More” DDN 08/23/2003 p. A 10 Articles #2-#19 are available at University Libraries Reserves Learning Objectives 1. To introduce students to the recent efforts of the federal government (F.D.A.) to regulate the tobacco industry. 2. To analyze the terms of a particular settlement (Kluger’s) between the U.S. government and the tobacco industry. 3. To develop a strategic tobacco management response to the threats of regulation by the government. 4. To weigh, on behalf of the tobacco industry, the likelihood that a settlement would be in their best interest. Assignment Assume that your team comprises the professional staff of the Department of Governmental Relations of Uniplex, Corporation, Inc., a diversified multinational corporation. One of Uniplex’s most successful divisions competes in the tobacco industry as a manufacturer of Montecristo Cigarettes. Tobacco used in Montecristos is largely domestically grown, most of it coming from North Carolina and Kentucky. Your boss is Vice President Robusto Dunhill, who has held this position for 21 years. He is intimately familiar with the Washington D.C. political scene having served as the Representative in Congress from the Southern District of Virginia for three terms from 1972 to 1978. He came to Uniplex when he left the U.S. House of Representatives. Dunhill is among the most highly regarded V.P.’s in the organization and has a realistic chance to become President and C.E.O. unless he makes some serious miscalculations in his management of the firm’s relationships with the federal and state governments. He is interested in protecting the Montecristo division against recent threats of regulation by the FDA, suits by the states’ Attorneys General and potential liabilities faced from civil lawsuits by victims of smoking. He wants the team to become intimately familiar with the relevant public policy issues surrounding these problems by reading the materials cited above and the relevant portions of the McAdams book. Essentially what Dunhill wants to know is how the Government Relations professional staff members believe we should respond to these threats. He has particular confidence in the staff because he knows that they have taken a course in public policy management. He wants to appear competent and possessed of sound judgment when he meets with the CEO of Uniplex, Anthony (Panatela) Garcia-Vegas. Above all, he does not wish to make a recommendation to the CEO which, if accepted, will later prove to be harmful to the company and his own career. 2