ABSTRACT
In the summer of 1973, Dimitur Iadkov, the director of the Bulgarian state tobacco monopoly, Bulgartabak, visited the New York City headquarters of Philip Morris at the end of his tour of tobacco facilities in the American South. After the whirlwind of sites and smells of American tobacco, Iadkov had the pleasure of coffee, smokes, and a chat with Hugh Cullman, then CEO of Philip Morris. In Cullman’s offi ce Iadkov realized the real reason that the Bulgarian tobacco delegation had been wined and dined across the South:
A few things were clarifi ed in the offi ce of Philip Morris during our last meeting in New York. . . . I looked at the map behind the president’s desk and BULGARTABAK was written across it from East Germany, over the Czechs, to the huge area of the USSR all the way to Vladivostok. . . . I told him I felt like I was in the Pentagon and he said-“You are not mistaken, Mr. Iadkov, that this is the ‘pentagon’ of Philip Morris. We look at the world this way.” The president stood and pointed at the map. “You see the spheres of interest. Look here is BAT’s [British American Tobacco] market, here is Reynolds [RJ Reynolds], this is Reemtsma [a German fi rm]. And these are the markets of Philip Morris. I would say that we are almost everywhere with the exception of this huge territory that is held by Bulgartabak. I have to admit, Mr Yadkov that I really envy you. I always dream of those markets. I say this with sincere envy, because for our company the market rules.1
