The Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation : To ‘join the ranks of global companies’

Until the late 1990s, the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TTL) focused almost exclusively on serving the domestic market as a highly protected monopoly. This paper describes how the company has adopted a more outward looking strategy since 2000, with ambitions to become a regional, and eventually global, business by 2021. Drawing on company documents and industry sources, the paper argues that this shift in strategy was a direct reaction to the decline in domestic market share following liberalisation of the Taiwanese tobacco market and adoption of tougher domestic tobacco control measures. Market opening occurred as a result of pressure from the U.S. Trade Representative in the 1980s, as well as World Trade Organization membership in 2002. It is argued that TTL\u27s efforts to globalise operations have been limited by bureaucratic company management and structures, and ongoing political tension between Taiwan and China. However, the relative success of TTL\u27s alcohol branch, and potential détente as the Taiwanese government reaches out to improve relations with China, may provide TTL with new opportunities to achieve its goal of becoming a regional player with global ambitions. This article is part of the special issue \u27The Emergence of Asian Tobacco Companies: Implications for Global Health Governance.\u2

The so-called "Spanish model" - Tobacco industry strategies and its impact in Europe and Latin America

Background To demonstrate the tobacco industry rationale behind the "Spanish model" on non-smokers' protection in hospitality venues and the impact it had on some European and Latin American countries between 2006 and 2011. Methods Tobacco industry documents research triangulated against news and media reports. Results As an alternative to the successful implementation of 100% smoke-free policies, several European and Latin American countries introduced partial smoking bans based on the so-called "Spanish model", a legal framework widely advocated by parts of the hospitality industry with striking similarities to "accommodation programmes" promoted by the tobacco industry in the late 1990s. These developments started with the implementation of the Spanish tobacco control law (Ley 28/2005) in 2006 and have increased since then. Conclusion The Spanish experience demonstrates that partial smoking bans often resemble tobacco industry strategies and are used to spread a failed approach on international level. Researchers, advocates and policy makers should be aware of this ineffective policy

Tobacco: public perceptions and the role of the industry

The paper briefly examines the substantial risks of smoking, and how people's perception of them may be influenced by tobacco control policy and by the activities of the tobacco industry. The comparative lack of effectiveness of the self-regulation system of implementing tobacco control policy is noted, illustrated by the example of cigarette pack health warnings, from the first examples under the voluntary system to the significantly more robust and effective pictorial warnings system pioneered by Canada and implemented by legislation, similar to measures recently approved by the European Union. Other aspects of tobacco control policy are discussed, including health education, restricting the promotion of tobacco and changing the social acceptability of smoking. Three areas of success in the UK-taxation, the leadership of doctors and sustained media advocacy-are described; and the paper concludes by looking at prospects for the future, with the forthcoming ban on most forms of tobacco promotion and the challenge of responding to growing demands to protect non-smokers from exposure to other people's tobacco smoke in the workplace and in public places. Copyright 2003 Royal Statistical Society.