Comment on “CVS Vows to Quit Selling Tobacco Products” (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/business/cvs-plans-to-end-sales-of-tobacco-products-by-october.html)

CVS vows to quit selling tobacco products, which is related to the social responsibility of business, but it is also a controversial decision.

Obviously, because of this decision, the total revenue of CVS will decrease, which will be not only a loss to the company, but also it will be a loss to all the employees. All this raises questions: Does executive of the company have the right to decrease employees’ salaries for business responsibility? Will this decision be really efficient? According to the article, Nik Modi “doubted CVS’s move would have a major impact on tobacco sales, noting that roughly three-quarters of cigarette sales occur in convenience stores.” Also, if someone really wants to buy cigarettes, he can go to other stores to buy them. That is to say, this decision is not really influential, since businessmen can deal with some problem in a quicker way, but they make less of an impact than government does.

However, we cannot deny the effect of this decision. CVS is “the country’s largest drugstore chain in overall sales”, which means that maybe some other drugstore chains will follow it, and also quit selling tobacco products. In addition, it is harder for people to get tobacco products later.

More importantly, this decision is not a simple social responsibility of business, but it’s a decision for the company’s future development: CVS will increase the number of MinuteClinics and making a smoking cessation program. So, we can conclude that quitting selling tobacco products aims to increase profit in the long run, but it seems like a behavior that is related to social responsibility of business in the short run.

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