Sachin H. Jain: The most courageous act in modern business history may be the decision by CVS Health nearly a decade ago to quit selling cigarettes.

Quoting Sachin H. Jain, President and CEO of the SCAN Group and Health Plan, on LinkedIn:

“The most courageous act in modern business history may be the decision by CVS Health nearly a decade ago to quit selling cigarettes. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, CVS walked away from $2 billion in revenue and hundreds of millions in profit.

Remarkably, when CVS quit selling cigarettes, many Americans who relied on CVS as their supplier quit smoking altogether. The move coincided with the company’s shift into more direct provisioning of healthcare services—and sent a strong message to employees and external stakeholders that CVS was truly in the business of health.

As more and more retailers (Walgreens, Amazon, Costco Wholesale) and tech companies (Apple, Facebook, and Google) have gotten into the business of healthcare, not enough companies are struggling with the ethical consequences of simultaneously selling products and services that erode health while also selling healthcare services.

In my latest Forbes column, I describe the tension and a few ways that companies work work to resolve it.”

Source: Sachin H. Jain/LinkedIn