About

With an annual gross revenue of approximately $2bn in Mexico, Philip Morris International (PMI) is the current leader in the country’s tobacco market – in fact, more than seven out of every 10 cigarettes sold in Mexico is a Philip Morris brand. The PMI legal department in Mexico currently comprises of six lawyers and one administrative assistant, and with an annual external legal spend of only $350,000 managing the complexity of matters the company faces is no minor feat. The team support three different PMI entities in Mexico, with over 1,900 employees working in corporate offices in Polanco, Mexico City, in a manufacturing facility in Guadalajara and a Stemmery plant in Tepic. The legal team is an integral part of the business, enabling and encouraging exponential business growth. It accomplishes this by going above and beyond the usual scope of legal work and being a constant source of innovation and a catalyst for transformation. An example of this innovative work is the assistance with PMI’s worldwide vision of investing in the development, assessment and introduction of reduced-risk products, a range of non-combustible alternatives to cigarettes with the potential to reduce individual risk and population harm in comparison with cigarette smoking. Chief counsel, Jorge Dengo says that ‘the introduction of these products has meant significant work from the legal team when considering that the long term vision of the entire corporation is to replace the smoke of conventional cigarette with these new products. In Mexico, the work of the legal group has been critical to map the applicable laws and regulations, environmental, tax applicable to these new products’. Handling regulatory change, market position management and new product launches has necessitated a team ethos of constant improvement and training – ultimately leading to a more powerful and happy team, which is able to add to the high performance of the company. This has been a proactive process, where each member of the legal team took the Gallup “strengths finder” test, and based on these findings the team undergoes training and assessments in order to cultivate their strengths and preferences Dengo says: ‘Knowing our own and our team members’ respective strengths enables us to collaborate and plan our projects more effectively’. Part of a continuous drive for internal efficiency has been achieved through the development of a manual for the guidance of its marketing and product development colleagues, which lists the requirements and restrictions of a cigarette pack in accordance with the law and internal company policies. ‘Our lawyers also formulated guidelines to assist our marketing and sales colleagues and the company’s third-party agencies in the development of branded materials to be used in the different advertising and information channels in the country’, says Dengo. PMI Mexico has also been recognised by top companies and Grupo Expansión as one of the best companies to work for and by the National Women’s Institute for their gender equality policy.