iMBA 560
Corporate Innovation Strategies

Critical-Thinking Exercise (CTE) 1

THE INSTRUCTIONS:

• You are to work alone. You may not work in groups and may not secure the help or advice of any other persons.
• You are permitted to look in the book (or any book, for that matter), journal articles, and the course lesson notes.
• You must use Microsoft Word to prepare your submission. Spacing: Single; Font type: Time New Roman, Regular; Font size: 12; Color: black. No PDF format is allowed. No exception!
• You must use the following standard file-naming convention for your CTE submission.

iMBA_560_LastName_FirstName_CTE_1

For example, I would name my document as follows:

iMBA_560_Tsai_Jeff_CTE_1

• No credit will be given for an answer that the instructor considers to be unclear, vague or ambiguous. Your answer must be precise and specific.
• The answer to the question must be in the space provided under the word “Answer:” (one blank space below). If you need more spaces, you can simply add more and continue to the next page.
• It’s preferable to have an answer of no more than three single-spaced pages in length; however, there shall be no penalty for those that are longer than the preferred length. The intent is to avoid stifling your ability to think critically and creatively.
• Any information that is taken directly from the book, journals, or other sources must be used in the proper context and correctly cited.
• Please review the CTE Evaluation Criteria and the Rubric as listed in the Course Syllabus before you start working on this exercise.
• Please DO NOT change the layout of this exercise and/or remove the questions and this title page from the exercise.
• Submit your answer to the Critical-Thinking Exercise 1 folder no later than 3:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EDST) on Monday, February 11, 2013.

NAME ________________________________________ GRADE ____________ (Please type in) (Leave blank)

Critical Thinking Exercise 1

Considering in the 1970s, Xerox Corporation was the dominant player in photocopiers, having built the industry from its early days when it was founded on the radical technology pioneered by Chester Carlsen and the Battelle Institute. However, despite its prowess in the core technologies and continuing investment in maintaining a competitive edge, it found itself seriously threatened by a new generation of small copiers developed by several new entrants. And, despite the fact that Xerox had enormous experience in the industry and a deep understanding of the core technology, it took them almost eight years of mishaps and false starts to introduce a competitive product. In that time, Xerox lost around half its market share and suffered severe financial problems. Apparently, modest changes to the existing technology have quite dramatic consequences.

In similar fashion, if you take a snapshot today of the 133-year-old photo icon Eastman Kodak, it will probably turn out dark, though it has continued to play a catch-up in recent years. Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Kodak was known throughout the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. But, the company was battered by Japanese competition in the 1980s and was unable to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology. While Kodak spent some $4 billion throughout the 1990s developing the photo technology inside most of today’s cell phones and digital devices, a reluctance to ease its heavy financial reliance on film allowed rivals to rush into the fast-emerging digital arena.

Kodak owns patents that cover a number of basic functions in many smartphone cameras; but, the decline of traditional camera and film and the explosive rise of digital photography have sharply cut into sales and set its stock back more than 75 percent over the past ten years. Finally, on January 19, 2012, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, starting to phase out its main product lines such as digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames. Indeed, this marks the end of an era for the company that brought photography to the masses, raising the possibility that the 133-year-old trailblazer of film photography could become the most storied casualty of a digital age

But, on the other hand, in studying innovative organizations such as 3M, Apple, Sony, and Samsung, we notice that these companies were able to continually innovate and create. Sony used it to gain access to the consumer market and to build a whole generation of portable consumer-devices - and in the process acquired considerable technological experience which enabled them to enter and compete successfully in higher value, more complex markets.

Question:

Why is it that some companies are able to leverage several years of innovation to fuel growth and prosperity of the organization for long periods of time, while other firms have very rapid life cycles and are not able to reinvent themselves?

NOTE: The discussion of the corporate history of any specific company is not the intent of this exercise, though it is appropriate to use the practices and strategies of “some companies” to illustrate your points. But, this illustration should be brief; and, it should not be the main focus of your discussion.

More important, you must view the relevant issues from multi-dimensional perspectives; and, you must apply the concepts and theories learned in this course and other iMBA courses to support your reasoning and arguments. Please refer to the CTE Evaluation Rubric for further information.

Answer/Discussion: