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CVS’s strategic move of discontinuing the sale of tobacco products will create a uniform understanding in its customers that CVS is a provider of products geared toward the well being of its customers. Simply put, eliminating tobacco products from its sales racks sets a new, a much more concrete identity of the CVS pharmaceutical brand.  The article states that 2 billion USD of sales revenue came from tobacco, which is roughly 1.6% of its total revenue (Stephanie) . CVS obviously chose to fulfill its social responsibility to the majority of its customers and ignore a somewhat niche group of the population. This decision was possibly highly supported by today’s general social stigma against tobacco smokers and the existence of evidence health hazards of smoking.

The plan seems like an action of a company that is finally fulfilling its social responsibility in striving towards the improvement of it’s customer’s health. This decision may have been driven by the altruistic intentions of CVS’s executives. However, it also could have been a strategic decision that sacrificed an average of 2 billion USD in revenue/ per year for long-term annual revenue greater than their loss of 2 billion. They are able to bear this loss because they are in a position that is able to sustain itself without the tobacco sales and a position that forecasts greater revenue after having appealed to the desires of the majority.

Works Cited List

Strom, Stephanie. “CVS Vows to Quit Selling Tobacco Products.” New York Times 5 Feb. 2014. Web.