--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Leveraging local insights and value‐chain meaningful partnerships that drive change. image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Leveraging local insights and value‐chain meaningful partnerships that drive change. Vassilis Gkatzelis, President, East & Southeast Asia, Pacific & PMI Global Travel Retail Region, Philip Morris International, sat down with TIME to discuss the strategic decisions involved in transforming a legacy business while sustaining trust with consumers and communities. Gkatzelis addressed the tension between phasing out cigarettes while continuing to sell them, framing it not as a paradox but as a strategic choice. With more than one billion smokers globally, he understands that accelerating the decline of smoking requires meeting adult smokers where they are, using existing access and revenues to fund and scale scientifically backed, smoke-free alternatives. Looking beyond quarterly performance, Gkatzelis emphasized long-term, locally rooted transformation. In markets such as Indonesia, where micro, small, and medium enterprises underpin the economy, PMI has built partnerships across the value chain, working with hundreds of thousands of retailers and training tens of thousands of MSMEs. For Gkatzelis, sustainable change depends on long-term thinking, local context, and partnerships that embed transformation into the communities they serve.  [Find Out More](http://pmi.com/progress) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/philip-morris-international/leveraging-local-insights-and-valuechain-meaningful-partnerships-that-drive/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/philip-morris-international/leveraging-local-insights-and-valuechain-meaningful-partnerships-that-drive/"},"headline":"Leveraging local insights and value‐chain meaningful partnerships that drive change.","datePublished":"2026-07-20T09:47:18.408Z","dateModified":"2026-07-20T09:47:09.284Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/branded-content/philip-morris-international/leveraging-local-insights-and-valuechain-meaningful-partnerships-that-drive/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/philip-morris-international/leveraging-local-insights-and-valuechain-meaningful-partnerships-that-drive/","name":"Leveraging local insights and value‐chain meaningful partnerships that drive change."}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME PMI LF FINAL 16x9 2","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/NjKvW82e/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-02-17T15:36:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NjKvW82e.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/branded-content/philip-morris-international/leveraging-local-insights-and-valuechain-meaningful-partnerships-that-drive/","duration":"PT2M47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/branded-content/philip-morris-international/leveraging-local-insights-and-valuechain-meaningful-partnerships-that-drive/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```