Competition Case:JUUL and the Vaping Revolution

Despite unprecedented growth and success as a start-up, in recent years, JUUL has faced mounting
pressure as outside observers have questioned how much of its stunning growth has been generated by
adult smokers switching to e-cigarettes, and how much by nonsmoking teens adopting JUUL as a
fashionable new drug. Additionally, new evidence emerged linking vaping to a spate of mysterious
respiratory illnesses and deaths in the U.S., causing federal, state, and local regulators to begin placing
increased pressure on JUUL Labs and other e-cigarette companies.
Your team is a cross-disciplinary business unit within JUUL Labs, with members representing the leadership
of different functions such as data analytics, finance, accounting, marketing, management, and design.
Given that the company was ostensibly founded to reduce the harm of smoking, your team has been asked
to put together recommendations to JUUL’s leadership team on what more the company could do to
prevent misuse of its products, restore its reputation, and grow its business more successfully.
Within your presentation, you’ve been asked to:

1. Begin with an analysis of our responsibilities as a company – to our shareholders, our customers, and
   society – taking into account our company’s vision and mission statement;
2. Provide an overview of what more our company can do moving forward to prevent misuse of our
   products, considering actions we’ve already taken;
3. Recommend how our company should move in light of current or projected industry regulations;
4. Present a strategy to build our reputation in the face of mounting pressure; and
5. End with a plan for growing our business more successfully in the near future.
   Select and answer one of the following prompts:
   Option 1: JUUL Labs SWOT Analysis
   After reading the case, review how to conduct a SWOT analysis using the following articles:
   SWOT Analysis: What It Is and When to Use It by BusinessNewsDaily
   (https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4245-swot-analysis.html)
   The Structure of a Good SWOT from Strategic Management Insight
   (https://strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/swot-analysis-how-to-do-it.html)
   Then, create a table analyzing JUUL’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
   After thinking through the SWOT analysis, answer the following questions:
6. Looking at the weaknesses and threats you identified above, what do you believe JUUL should do to
   position itself well as a company in the face of mounting pressure?
7. Looking at the strengths and opportunities you identified above, where do you believe JUUL has the
   greatest potential for growth?
8. Looking back to JUUL Labs’ early years, how did their strategic choices enhance or endanger their
   future?
9. What tensions do leaders face between their fiduciary duty to create sustainable economic value and
   their responsibilities to customers and society?
10. How do your personal values lead you toward or away from a lucrative opportunity that may potentially
    cause harm to one segment of society while potentially benefitting another?