At Philip Morris International (PMI), lifelong learning is not just a buzzword, it’s a strategic imperative.
In 2016, PMI, a global leader in the cigarette and tobacco industry, announced a profound transformation to work toward a “smoke-free” future. As part of this commitment, the company developed an entire line of smoke-free products and is working toward eventually discontinuing all combustible products.
But a global workforce transformation of this scale doesn’t happen unless all employees are invested in the vision and equipped with the right skills. To build a more agile, innovative, and engaged workforce, PMI would need the right learning partner, which is why they enlisted edX.
The challenge: Build a roadmap for global upskilling
The company’s People and Culture (P&C) team had their work cut out for them.
They were tasked with identifying the different skills and capabilities required to fulfill this ambitious transformation, establishing benchmarks and measuring progress, and managing the health of the broader company culture. They used education to prepare employees — regardless of title or tenure — for the immense change, which they knew would take time to implement.
In an interview with HRD Connect, Charles Bendotti, Senior Vice President of People & Culture (P&C), reflected on the high-stakes nature of the initiative.
“We’ve been a tobacco-based organization for many years and now we’re completely transforming our business into one that is data-driven and based almost entirely upon science and technology,” Bendotti said. “Together as an organization we had to ‘unlearn’ everything before we could learn what we needed for this new phase in our journey.”
Bendotti knew success hinged on organization-wide engagement. Everyone — from senior executives to early career professionals — needed to understand and believe in the “why” behind the initiative. Without a clear internal messaging strategy or measurable engagement opportunities, PMI wouldn’t be able to unify its people in pursuit of a common goal.
“You cannot ask an organization to do things differently, to behave differently, to allocate money differently, to operate differently, if you do not lead by example” Bendotti said.
Within PMI, the Operations team handles supply chains, production lines, and distribution methods — all of which PMI had to reimagine in their shift away from cigarettes. So it made perfect sense to roll out the edX initiative within the Operations team first. Operations would need training and education in order to design and build new supply chains to help PMI get their smoke-free products to customers. And that’s where edX came in.
The solution: Initiate a multi-year strategic upskilling plan across the organization
1. Pilot building new skills at the heart of the organization
PMI began its up-skilling journey in Europe and Asia, where 221 Operations employees enrolled in the MIT Supply Chain MicroMasters® program. The pilot was a resounding success, yielding 166 certificates in essential disciplines such as systems, technology, and design. By starting with Operations—the intersection of consumer insight and product design—PMI ensured its most business-critical team was empowered to lead the development of its new supply chains
2. Scaling for impact: Lifelong Learning Program
Following the success of the Operations pilot program, PMI launched the Lifelong Learning Program in 2020, focusing on self-paced project management, supply chain, and leadership courses.
The program expanded access to approximately 21,000 operations employees — nearly 30% of PMI’s total workforce. Those employees received access to the entire edX subscriptions portfolio, which includes over 2,300 self-paced courses from institutions like Harvard, MIT, and IBM. Employees could now enroll in courses aligned with PMI’s objectives and capabilities while also furthering their own career growth.
Virginie Lamas Borlat, P&C Head of Change Management and EX says the Lifelong Learning program is much more than an educational catalog.
“It goes beyond supporting development of role-related skills and truly promotes a growth mindset, supporting employability and sustainability,” Borlat says. “Our people are free to learn within a wide range of themes and capabilities, including areas beyond their current roles.”
Employees responded positively to the flexible structure edX courses provided. They also liked being able to access the courses any time and from anywhere. A welcome departure from traditional face-to-face programs and training experiences.
3. Drive engagement through learner advocacy
In a bid to make the program accessible to more users and further encourage engagement across the department, the operations team designed a learning catalog with a description of the program, a curated list of courses and programs that would help their employees to build future-focused skills such as supply chains, management, communications, innovation and project management.
They also relied on word-of-mouth from learning ambassadors who were active learners who shared their experiences on PMI’s internal social network and encouraged other colleagues to enroll.
Within the span of a single year, enrollments, completions, and training hours have all skyrocketed. 528 certificates were achieved and over 42,100 learning hours tracked.
4. Company-wide access and expansion
Following overwhelming support from individual contributors and leadership alike, PMI expanded edX access to all 53,000 employees. Operations participants were especially enthusiastic; they reported that edX — with its rigorous up-skilling opportunities and valuable, university-backed credentials — was in a league of its own.
By centring this rollout on core capabilities, PMI created a rare alignment where company objectives and individual career paths moved in lockstep. The result was an organic, bottom-up transformation: employees were seen independently choosing the very skills the business needs most. This shift highlighted that when personal growth is tied to organizational goals, top-down mandates become unnecessary—the workforce itself drives the evolution.
5. From operational foundation to global leadership with edX Executive Education
PMI’s transformation strategy followed a clear logic: build the foundation in Operations, create a culture of learning company-wide, and equip Go-to-Market (GTM) leaders to drive the results. To complement the massive up-skilling of the general workforce, roughly 50 leaders across Operations, People and Culture, and Finance were enrolled in edX cohort-based Executive Education courses. By building capabilities in disciplines such asYale SOM Human Resources Leadership,LSE MBA Essentials, and University of Cambridge Sustainable Supply Chain Management, these leaders became the vital link—ensuring the technical groundwork laid by Operations was fully leveraged to meet PMI’s global commercial objectives.
Leaders share positive feedback across the Executive Education courses they participated in:
“The course content was not only engaging but also thought-provoking. What I have learnt is beyond theory, offering so many practical examples and case studies that made the concept relatable. I know feel equipped to champion sustainability initiatives in my workplace and beyond. Truly valuable content! “ – Mida Hardo, Global Marketing Procurement Manager, Philip Morris International, Cambridge Business Sustainability Management online short course
“All in all, one of the best online courses I have taken. The material was easily accessible, and the difficulty level was adequately divided across the modules, beginning with a general overview and going deeper with each module. By Module 7, I felt comfortable answering the questions in length and going deeper into the material and what was implicitly left for me to understand beyond the material” – Muhammad Saadi Mansuri, Director of CC Business, Philip Morris International, Oxford Executive Strategy Programme
“Having an understanding of leadership concepts/theories in isolation is one thing however, being able to put that understanding into context from real life examples of women leaders took my learning to a whole new level as i can now relate to them clearly and understand many of the what’s and why’s I had for my leadership role and style (before starting this course) and most importantly, knowing that you are not alone in this journey and there are others you can always learn from.” – Nida Shamim, IT Head, Philip Morris Pakistan, Oxford Women’s Leadership Development Programme
The impact: Strategic transformation at every level of the organization
This strategic, tiered approach didn’t just build knowledge or—it produced measurable results across every level of the organization. From the initial pilot to the global expansion, the data reflects a workforce that is actively leaning into PMI’s new vision of strategic transformation:
| 2020 | 2021-2022 | 2023-2024 | ||
| Strategy | Transform operations team | Entire organizational transformation tied to capabilities for transformation | Upskill go-to-market leaders | |
| Learning solution | MIT Supply Chain Management MicroMasters® Program Pilot | Full edX Self-Paced Course Library | Full edX Self-Paced Course Library | edX Executive Education |
| Department | Operations team pilot in Europe and Asia | Entire operations team (21,000) employees | Full workforce (53,000) | 50 operations, people and culture and Finance leaders |
| Enrollments | 221 | 770 | 2,332 | 57 |
| Completed certificates | 166 | 528 | 740 | 50 |
Future-Proofing through a growth mindset
PMI’s journey proves that organizational transformation is, at its core, a human endeavor. By investing in its people—from the operational foundation to the strategic leadership—the company has realized that in a world of constant disruption, agility and resilience are the most critical skills of all. They have mastered the understanding that a commitment to continuous learning is the only way to build that resilience and fuel the engine of innovation. By fostering this growth mindset, PMI has ensured its workforce is not just prepared for today’s pivot, but possesses the power to adapt, lead, and thrive through whatever the future brings next.
If you’re ready to see how edX can help your organization engage employees at scale and build the critical capabilities needed for your own transformation, contact us today to connect with a member of our team.