Venadian Tobacco
| File:VenadianTobacco.png | |
| STK | |
| Industry | Tobacco |
| Founded | 1882 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Ardania |
Key people | Kolya Smetsinov (CEO) Artyom Bagunov (Chairman) |
| Products | Cigarettes, cigars, snuff, pipe tobacco, pipes, retail |
| Revenue | 22.4 billion NSD |
| 1.3 billion NSD | |
| 1.0 billion NSD | |
Number of employees | 143,530 |
Venadian Tobacco STK (Табак Венадии СТК, transcript: Tabak Venadii STK) is the largest and oldest tobacco company operating in Venadia, and is headquartered in Viniyagorod. VT operates 22 factories, seventeen of which are in Venadia and tobacconists throughout Ardania. Its tobacco leaves comes primarily from Venadian farms, but in the modern era has expanded in Kaltras. Brands belonging to VT include its flagship Бобр (Bobr, sold as Beaver abroad), Князь (Knyaz), Радость (Radost), Нагорье (Nagory'e) and Grünfeld.
In 2015, VT produced a total of 202 billion cigarettes and 350 million cigars.
Venadian Tobacco is listed on the Venagorod Stock Exchange.
History
Venadian Tobacco was created in 1882 as an amalgation of six separate Venadian tobacco companies, becoming by far the largest producer of tobacco in Venadia. By 1890, VT, had gained a market-share exceeding 80% in Venadia itself, and expanded into cigarettes in 1906 with the opening of the Beaver Factory in Viniyagorod. While it had originally been based in Venagorod, the company moved its headquarters to Viniyagorod in 1921.
In the 1950s to 1970s, VT invested heavily in lobbyist groups to prevent Venadia from enacting laws to restrict the sale of tobacco, as well as sponsored research projects into the health benefits of tobacco. Between 1951 and 1964 the company claimed their tobacco could alleviate colds, depression and hysteria. VT is considered the primary reason restrictions on tobacco only started being instituted in 2009, when smoking became forbidden in public buildings.
In 1932, VT expanded their operations to also include retail. VT tobacconist stores were opened in all major Venadian cities, and in the 1950s the VT tobacconists expanded their product line beyond tobacco, also selling sweets, alcohol and magazines. In the 1980s, VT expanded their operations internationally, opening up tobacconists in the numerous countries and selling their products to others. In 1996, the first foreign VT factory was opened, although VT has remained committed to keeping as many jobs as possible within Venadia itself. Most of VTs production is still in Viniya and Boldiria, and the majority of its tobacco is purchased from Venadian farmers.
In Venadia, VT had a market share of 32.6% as of January 2016, making it the largest tobacco company in the country. VT has gradually been losing its position in Venadia since the 1960s, when it peaked at 85.3% market share, largely due to loosening of trade restrictions and the influx of foreign competition. Its primary competition in Venadia comes from foreign companies, with other Venadian companies and cooperatives having a total market share of 19.5%.
Product profile
Most VT brands are known as fairly cheap, and low-to-moderate quality (with the notable exception of Knyaz cigars and pipe tobacco, made from imported Kaltrasian tobacco, who are considered to be of fine quality). Its flagship brand, Бобр (sold as Beaver abroad), is stereotyped as a product for the chain-smoking underclass, due to its low cost and low quality. Particularly Бобр cigars have become associated with Venadian gopniks and urban street gangs, despite VTs efforts to improve the image of the brand.
Abroad, VT has attempted to capture a similar market with its relatively cheap cigarettes, as well as sale of pipes and pipe tobacco. VT cigars and snuff remains a Venadia-only product for VT. In marketing, VT tends to focus on price, as well as the pure enjoyment of traditional Venadian tobacco. VT has attracted criticism for its logos, which some see as being targeted at children, with often colourful cartoon maskots. Online, one can still find episodes of the defunct SIGARETTA cartoon produced by VT in the 1950s which featured cartoon characters fighting evil through the power of friendship and tobacco.
Controversies
Due to the nature of its product, VT has comes under a substantial amount of controversy over its years. In the case of The People versus VT in 2002, the courts judged in favour of VT not carrying any responsibility for the numerous deaths of lung cancer among its consumers, but similar cases abroad have no always been as favourable to VT.
VT has also come under fire for alleged labour rights violations, especially in its foreign factories. In 2014, trade union leaders in one of VTs Kaltrasian factories was found dead, with some claiming his assassination was the work of VT. In Venadia, while VT has not been found guilty or seriously accused of outright murder, it has been accused of underpaying its contractually obligated farmers, and in two cases have been found to break Venadian labour regulations on its factories. Most of these incidents occurred in the 1990s, and the company has taken great pains to improve its record within Venadia in the 21st century.