Essay Sample on Juul: Leading US E-Cigarette Company Since 2015

Introduction

Juul is a private company operating in the United States and is among the leading electronic companies in cigarettes. The company has spun up since 2017 from Pax labs. The company, however, plays its significant role in making e-cigarettes, which are always packed with nicotine salts through the leaves of tobacco for a one time use cartridges. The company started in May 2015, and its headquarters based in California, United States (Jordan, Sundberg, Hawes & Yerkic, 2017). The company has, however, been growing over the years and has improved its area of operation, expanding its services to the entire United States, Canada, Russia, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. The company's chief executive officer is KC Crosthwaite and helped by the chief product officer, James Monsees (Walley, Wilson, Winickoff & Groner, 2019). The product of Juul Company is electronic cigarettes. The revenue of the company ranges approximately two billion dollars, as reported in 2018 statistics. Altria is the largest shareholder of the company owning about 35% of the assets (Levy, Sweanor, Sanchez, O'Connor, Goniewicz & Borland, 2019). As per the 2018 analysis, the company has over one thousand five hundred employees and its subsidiaries made up of VMR products. This paper analyzes Juul, the vaping company in making a strategic plan in growing the business in a competitive economic world.

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Adams Bowen and James Monsees are the co-founders of the company, and the company has a 72% market share in the United States economy. The customers of the Juul products are the youths, and their high level of consuming has developed a more significant concern for the health safety in the societies and has led to various investigations by the federal government, mainly the food and drug agencies. In 2005, the co-founders of Juul Company met at Stanford University and created Ploom as one of the e-cigarettes. In early 2007, they started the company to develop and sell the e-cigarette (Levy, Sweanor, Sanchez, O'Connor, Goniewicz & Borland, 2019). As the company grew and the products had a high demand, the co-founders changed their name to Pax labs and started to produce JUUL. With the tremendous growth and a lot of sales, the company announced itself as an independent company in 2017. In 2017 and 2018, the rate of employees grew from 200 to 1500, and the company's e-cigarettes are manufactured in Shenzhen, China, and the pods are developed in the United States (Levy, Sweanor, Sanchez, O'Connor, Goniewicz & Borland, 2019). The company markets its products intensively through social media and has set funds that are used for online marketing every year. This is a unique feature for the company since it heavily relies on social media for its products.

Juul over the years have created a trend in developing vaping gadgets, and many companies have come up to produce products with similar experience. The company offers unique services like cheaper products, different designs, and high quality, creating stringent competition for the company. A company like SMOK Infinix is among the companies that produce products similar to Juuls. The company has one of the leading most massive batteries and has a bigger space for pods, and its products manufactured in different types and shapes. Eonsmoke is another major competitor for the Juul Company, and its headquarters is based in Clifton in New Jersey. The company started in 2011 and highly competed through its well-equipped electronic equipment. Other competitors of Juul Company are Mistic, Vapor4Life, Blu, Logic, Ovaleusa, Vuse, and international vapor group (Levy, Sweanor, Sanchez, O'Connor, Goniewicz & Borland, 2019). All these companies have generated over one hundred and thirty million to its large number of employees ranging about three thousand. Among all the competitors, Juul revenue is estimated to be the best and leading company.

Current Situation of the Organization in the Market

The company investigates the increasing use of vaping by the youths in the economy and has helped to mitigate this through suspending internet access to pods among the cucumber. The federal government, however, is facing a tough time with the company since a lot of deaths have been reported due to the use of vaping. The company, however, is being reported to have illegally marketed its products in the market. This happens after the federal government sent a letter to the company that the firm violated regulations by saying that their vaping products are better than traditional tobacco. The company, however, has a market share of over 75% in the United States economy (Levy, Sweanor, Sanchez, O'Connor, Goniewicz & Borland, 2019). It has also been reported to be the countries fast-growing and successful company in the cigarettes industry. The company is trying to create innovative products in the economy by producing products in various varieties and taking high precautions on health matters.

In the current market analysis, the rates of death are increasing due to vaping. A lot of cases are reported frequently on lung diseases and are affecting the excellent performance of the company. With the high consumption of Juuls products, the company acknowledges that a large number of consumers are teenagers, and its products do not intend to target the underage. The food and drug enforcement agencies targets to produce a healthy environment and want the company to remove its flavored e-cigarettes in the market. However, while Juul is receiving a lot of pressure, it intends to eliminate its flavored products for a while in the market. The e-cigarettes sales are slowing down and are at a potential stage of being banned from the United States economy (Walley, Wilson, Winickoff & Groner, 2019). Juul, however, expects its sales to improve through skyrocketing ranged at four billion dollars despite the flavored vape regulations.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT-analysis helps the company to develop strategies in the market and evaluate its position in a competitive setting. Juul analysis of SWOT will help in the vaping revolution and supports the firm in making effective business strategies. The company can, however, control its internal environment, strengths, and weaknesses, but can rarely control the external setting, the opportunities, and threats. The strengths of Juul are that it has a geographic position as it has a work diversity where its products are distributed over many countries and create a target market, ensuring that the competitors have easy access to the products. Online presence also helps the company in developing a strong and loyal relationship with the customers where the different social networking platforms offer proper social management for the company (Abraham, 2012). A well-developed information technology, competent human capital, high product quality, location advantage, different intellectual property rights, and comprehensive product portfolio are the strengths that Juul company has and in creating a vaping revolution.

Weakness tends to be an opportunity for the competitors, and minimizing it will create sustainability in the business operations. Juul may face criticism from the environment where the products are creating a health concern and tend to lose effectiveness due to inefficient inventory control practices. These aspects can lead to a lack of enough current assets and affect the cash flow of the company (Abraham, 2012). Other weaknesses of the company are: insufficient budget, fewer finances on research and development, lack of satisfaction of the customers' needs, price indifference, and poor customer service high employee turnover and poor leadership can create a higher risk for the company and affect the business growth. Through improving these weaknesses, the company will have a new opportunity for change and development.

Opportunities tend to be alternatives for the company to undertake and gain a competitive advantage. For instance, an increase in population will mean a high demand for the products. Change in consumer preference can be an opportunity or a threat; the consumer can either change the taste of the company's products to the competitors or vice versa. Other opportunities that the company can have are the development of new technologies, rise in customers' income, reduction in interest rates, social marketing and e-commerce, new market segments, rising global interconnectedness, and improvement in consumers' lifestyles (Walley, Wilson, Winickoff & Groner, 2019). The Juul Company can enhance and strengthen its performance by maximizing these opportunities and changing the vaping aspect.

The company also faces various trends in its activities and requires critical thinking and proper evaluation of the market. There can be a change in the regulatory framework where e-cigarettes are banned and will profoundly affect the performance of the company. Various trends can be hard to control and measure their undertaking (Abraham, 2012). Other trends facing Juul Company can be a shortage of skilled labor, competitors, economic conditions, environmental sustainability, and globalization. These trends can have a significant impact on the organization of the firm and long term effects. The SWOT analysis offers an opportunity and alternative for change in the Juuls Company and rationale for more exceptional performance.

Areas for Strategic Plan in the SWOT Analysis

Competitors, change in consumer preference, and prices are essential for the strategic plan as they determine the performance of the company. Juul needs to study its competitors for it to reach the target market. When competition is very stringent, then creating innovative and creative techniques to curb this disaster is essential. Competitors pose a challenge for the firm and also a strength where the firm will struggle in providing quality and unique products. Change in consumer preference can alter the revenues of the firm or increase it under a short or long term basis. When consumers change the preference, it shows that a competitor offers the best product or the company does, and through this, it is essential to create customer loyalty. In the case of a deontological theory, where an individual is to choose an alternative with a positive outcome, then customers tend to do this in selecting products from a variety of firms. For example, an e-cigarette company with flavored and unflavored products and various health complications, then individuals will prefer products with fewer health issues. Prices are also an essential element to consider in the SWOT analysis (Abraham, 2012). When a company produces products with higher rates than the market value, then it will have a lower demand, unlike providing it at lower rates. Therefore it is essential for Juul Company and the vaping revolution to set realistic and attainable prices in creating customer loyalty.

Method of Measuring the Success of the Strategic Plan

In measuring the success of the strategic plan, then it is essential to stick to the objectives set as this will help in analyzing the best alternatives and measuring performance. The metrics chosen should assist in meeting the goals and keeping the strategies on track. The plans set will be attainable and straightforward, such that the data can be monitored quickly. This involves the training of employees in helping to achieve the objective (Jordan, Sundberg, Hawes & Yerkic, 2017). The other essential method is to use and maintain up-to-date knowledge and data of the organization through evaluating the trends over the past years. Finally, in ensuring that the plan is on progress and is towards meeting the goals, then it is vital to use dashboards as it is the best tool in monitoring the essential indicators of the firm.

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