Deconstructing Disruptive Industry Technological Models: Concord between Smoking and Vaping

Domination of the tobacco industry’s innovative business models has forced many countries to develop defensive tobacco control strategies. Pakistan has been routinely adopting new legislation for this industry for the past several decades. However, constant tension exists between the legislative/policy development process and the transnational tobacco industry trying to outpace and evade new regulations. Expanding on the ‘Disruptive Industry Technological Model’ adopted by the transnational tobacco industry, this paper posits that the business model adopted during the previous century was radically disruptive, focusing on selling a product designed to kill almost half of its customers (WHO 2020). Subsequently, during the first two decades of the 21st Century, the tobacco industry adopted the ‘Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)’ to displace its traditional cigarette sales. This paper deconstructs the adoption of such radically disruptive technological models by the tobacco industry and finds concord between both. It recommends the development of broad-spectrum proactive and preventive policies for Pakistan instead of reactive ones in the tobacco control regime.