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table also shows that <strong>SWM</strong>’s sales have grown 9.1% from 2006 to 2007. This could be thestarting of a good sales growth trend.Industry OverviewThe tobacco industry may not be the healthiest business, but it has been growing at ahigh rate in the consumer goods market. It provides specific services to people worldwide,however it must be broken down to evaluate the inner segments of the tobacco industry. Theoverall tobacco commerce is one of a kind and has precise materials that are used in theproduction of tobacco products. The products in this market include cigarettes, cigars andcontainers. In order to make these products, firms must also use other industries like papermanufactures. Certain paper industries make tobacco related papers in order for the tobaccocompanies to create cigarettes, cigars, etc. These two industries intertwine with one anotherwhen it comes to the production process. Considering that there are many different firms in thetobacco market, it adds pressure to produce differentiation and competition. However, thetobacco related paper industries have very few firms in their industry, which makes it easy tocompete on product differentiation and innovation. When looking at different tobacco products,it is evident that the prices are similar. What firms need to look at are the industries behind theproducts that help the creation, the paper producers. The cigarette paper manufacturerscompete on creating new ideas for a safer cigarette, as well as a better image for their tobaccoproducts.There are many competitors in the tobacco industry including Marlboro, Parliaments andCamel. It is difficult to find the competitors in the tobacco related paper industry, because mostof them are foreign and do not conduct business in the United States. Schweitzer-Mauduit(<strong>SWM</strong>) is the largest tobacco related paper producer in the United States, and mainly competeswith Universal Corporation (UVV) and Alliance One (AOI). These two companies both stock, sell,package, and produce leaf tobacco. They are main competitors because <strong>SWM</strong> has beenproducing reconstituted tobacco leaf (RTL), which is made from by-tobacco products and ismuch safer and cheaper than normal tobacco. All of these companies do not make and sellcigarettes, they simply manufacture products that are sold to cigarette companies and used inits products process.19
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