...Kodak and the Digital revolution 1. Evaluate Kodak's strategy in traditional photography. Why has the company been so successful throughout the history of the industry? Kodak is known for providing the quality services, innovative products offering the best quality to customers. It developed competitive advantages and satisfied its customers during many years. Kodak has evolved different strategies in the field of traditional photography where it brought innovations and modification. Kodak has a successful history in the industry. According to the case study, the main reason behind the success of Kodak in the industry is its quality. 2. Compare traditional photography to digital imaging. What are the main structural differences? Will digital imaging replace traditional imaging? How have value creation and value appropriation changed in digital photography relative to traditional photography? The digital image consists of a defined set of points called pixels. The traditional image on sensitive material also consists of points or grains of metallic silver. Contrary to the traditional photography, the digital images aren’t using any consumable any more, as the digital image are stock on a memory stick. Digital imaging will replace the traditional photography, because the quality of the digital technology is growing a lot, and digital picture are in line todays need. The demand for the digital products is getting higher day by day. Therefore, it can be very easily...
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...Within four years of of the commencement of research, negative paper was introduced and would be used for the next century. Film became so efficient and cheap, Eastman invented the first commercial camera called the “Kodak” which revolutionized the “point and shoot” concept as the world know its today. 1 The Kodak camera was so popular that Eastman decided to integrated Kodak into the company name. The newly founded and named Eastman Kodak Company in 1892 became so big they had to expand their facilities to New Jersey for access to new trade routes. This was the beginning of Kodak and the start of photography. Kodak’s history is mainly responsible for making the Kodak name what it is today. The initial products invented by Kodak like the camera and film opened doors and provided a foundation for innovation and success in the photography and developing industry. Furthermore, Kodak’s business model, although a failure, taught the world of business how to run a business. In today’s world, cameras range from expensive professional models to dollar store disposables. In the late 19th century there was only one kind of camera. It was called the Kodak and was marketed along side the slogan, “You press the button, We do the rest”. 1 Soon...
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...headquartered in Rochester New York, United states and incorporated in New Jersey. Kodak’s name is recognized around the world for its long heritage of delivering imaging innovations. Kodak focused on mainly solutions and services for businesses. In other words, Kodak Company is popular for the American technology focusing on imaging solutions and services for businesses and photographic film products. Fujifilm on the other hand, was founded 1932 and is based out of Tokyo Japan. They are popular for production, servicing, development and photographic products as well. Fujifilm has expanded to become an innovative leader in a variety of business fields while Kodak has focused on solutions and services for business. After the Second World War, Fujifilm started to diversify its products. Kodak on the other hand went through a struggle due to lack of innovation. Kodak’s main business segments are digital printing and enterprise, graphics, entertainment and commercial films. Fujifilm on the other hand was aiming to produce photographic films but overtime they have diversified into new markets and built a strong presence around the globe. In terms of innovation and product development Kodak had significantly concentrated on the market of digital imaging. Kodak at point of time came to a conclusion that they needed to focus on getting the pros who are passionate about their work on their team to embrace innovation. By doing so Kodak would seek for software engineers, chemical, mechanical...
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...headquartered in Rochester New York, United states and incorporated in New Jersey. Kodak’s name is recognized around the world for its long heritage of delivering imaging innovations. Kodak focused on mainly solutions and services for businesses. In other words, Kodak Company is popular for the American technology focusing on imaging solutions and services for businesses and photographic film products. Fujifilm on the other hand, was founded 1932 and is based out of Tokyo Japan. They are popular for production, servicing, development and photographic products as well. Fujifilm has expanded to become an innovative leader in a variety of business fields while Kodak has focused on solutions and services for business. After the Second World War, Fujifilm started to diversify its products. Kodak on the other hand went through a struggle due to lack of innovation. Kodak’s main business segments are digital printing and enterprise, graphics, entertainment and commercial films. Fujifilm on the other hand was aiming to produce photographic films but overtime they have diversified into new markets and built a strong presence around the globe. In terms of innovation and product development Kodak had significantly concentrated on the market of digital imaging. Kodak at point of time came to a conclusion that they needed to focus on getting the pros who are passionate about their work on their team to embrace innovation. By doing so Kodak would seek for software engineers, chemical, mechanical...
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...in virtually every country around the world’’ (kodak.com). However, despite numerous efforts in acquiring new competences and turn around its business model, Kodak has so far failed to impress consumers and stakeholders alike. Facing stiff competition and shrinking profit margins, Kodak seems not able to find its rightful place in the new digital age. This report will shed some light as to why Eastman Kodak has been struggling for years and how it could overcome the challenges it currently faces. kodak manufacturing plant around 1930 RECENT PAST Kodak being a centennial company, it was necessary to take as much distance as possible when trying to analyze its historical strategic choices. Thus, this study will span 25 years of Kodak’s history without limiting itself on particular time-accurate events but rather by taking the bigger picture into account. Having enjoyed a strong market leadership for decades, at the turn of the century Kodak started to see some intense competition build up in the form of Japanese companies combating to gain a...
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...To: Kelly Johnston, CEO Kodak From: Amelia Morris, Head of Marketing Operations, Kodak In Reference To: A Kodak moment; drawing your attention to major architectural flaws within our company, specifically the MAPP plan, as well as solutions for more sustainable options for future structures. It has come to my attention that there are some major flaws lying inside our organizational architecture. These flaws lay in the foundation of Kodak`s organization structure and so we cannot move forward until these basic errors are corrected. We are seeking companywide success and must act as a company to achieve this. Throughout its history we`ve experienced dramatic economic upturns and downturns. We are currently trying to pull ourselves out of bankruptcy and I believe the way to do so is through changes in our organizational architecture. These changes alone will not lead to success, as we still face problems in the digital technology area however they will certainly contribute positively. This means making changes in performance-evaluation methods, reward systems and responsibility assignments. Our previous attempts; decentralization in 1984 and the MAPP plan in 1987 have been widely unsuccessful. This means we must look closely at what went wrong within these plans, and restructure accordingly. Now, I’d like to specify what the flaws were in our initial organization restructure plans. 1987 saw Kodak change the assignments of decision rights within our company. Clearly...
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...The History and Core Business of Kodak The company we know today as Kodak was started by an American named George Eastman with his partner Henry Strong in 1881 by producing dry photographic plates. These dry gelatin plates were far superior to the messy wet plate counterpart of the day. The major advantage that dry gelatin plates gave photographers of the time was the fact that they did not require a wet coating right after exposure for them to be developed. Eastman invented and started producing his next evolution of dry plates by evolving his design from using a gelatin coating, to using an emulsion coating. The business evolved from a partnership to a $200,000 corporation with 14 shareholders in 1884. At that same time, the company name was changed to EASTMAN Negative Paper. The next evolutionary step for the company was one year later in 1885. This is when the first transparent photographic film came to market. With this groundbreaking and revolutionary product, EASTMAN Negative Paper opened a wholesale office in London England. The next few years were so good at EASTMAN Negative Paper that they were able to employ a full-time research scientist to help the company in the commercialization of a flexible, transparent film. A few years later in 1888 the name Kodak was born and they adopted and marketed the slogan “You press the button – we do the rest”. The next years for Kodak were filled with the growth of their film product and the cameras that used the film,...
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...Kodak and the Digital Revolution [pic] [pic][pic]Brief Overview: Kodak is a multinational American corporation which has become a household name most known for its film products. The company has come face to face with many changes due to the digital revolution which has created a rapid changing photography industry. George Eastman began Kodak in 1880 and introduced the first Kodak camera in 1888 coining the slogan “you press the button, we do the rest.” Eastman held a high standard for the company when it came to competition however with many managerial and product line changes, Kodak has slowly fallen behind in the industry. The company has experienced many shortcomings with the most recent trend of digital photography. According to Exhibit 7, from 1998-2002 Kodak was 2nd to Sony in the U.S. for the percent of units sold. The company is now considering layoffs as market share, film sales, and company revenues are down. Problems: § The company is faced with multiple managerial problems. First, the company lacked fresh blood in its management team. All of its CEO’s primarily came from the manufacturing jobs within its own company. This hurt the company overall and put a damper on keeping up with technological changes and competition as “Kodak avoided anything risky or innovative.” Second, when the company finally did add new blood to its management team things still didn’t look up. CEO Kay Whitmore was added in 1990 and changed the focus to “film based technology” such...
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...pencil”, and second was to develop a revolutionary invention, anticipating customers’ needs. This long run approach allowed Kodak to blow away all its competitors consequently leading the firm to dominate the film and camera markets by 1976. At that time Kodak represented 90% of the film market and 85% of the camera market. Since the beginning Kodak was able to base its strategy on innovation, having at the same time a customer focused policy. Great innovation could result worthless without a customer fidelity policy. Therefore the firm decided to create user-friendly products. That is the reason why suddenly after the firm introduced onto the market a revolutionary product such as the roll of film, this could have created new opportunities alone, it also launched a new camera, easy to use for all the people, marketed with an emblematic slogan: “You press the button we do the rest.” Hence, Kodak carried out a penetration strategy with mass production at low cost and an aggressive marketing policy, with the objective of increasing market share or sales volume, rather than to make profit in a short term. Kodak’s core business was films, but it understood early that “money come from consumables and not from hardware”, hence they started to produce cameras, perceiving that the market was offering such a great opportunity to become a household name since the two businesses were complementary. This approach allowed Kodak to develop a razor-blade strategy, selling cameras at low cost, but...
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...traditional and digital image acquisition, storage and output products and services; Business Imaging - for business and government to provide image capture, output and storage products and services; Components - for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to provide optical components and light-sensitive chip; Display - the design and manufacture the world's leading organic light-emitting diodes body (OLED) displays and other special materials. 2.1 Identity Audit - What areas is it suffering now? Kodak was developed digital camera technology and use for the aerospace industry in 1976; when 1991, Kodak already has a 1.3 million-pixel digital camera. But by 2000, Kodak's digital products sold only $ 3 billion and the accounting of total revenue only 22% ; 2002 Kodak's digital product rate of only about 25%, while Kodak's competitor Fuji has reached 60%. 100 years ago, Eastman...
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...to stay relevant despite the advent of the digital cameras. By 1998 Kodak was suffering relatively constant declining sales. The only thing that saved them financially that year so they could post a positive net income was the layoff of more than 16,000 employees. This is referenced in the financials by cutting the SG&A Expense by nearly half as compared to that of a year ago. It is mentioned in the article and unclear if the cut in SG&A also was a result of cutting marketing. If that occurred, then as mentioned in the case, it was a business mistake. The second problem with Kodak's is that it has been the industry leader for so long that it developed a collective mindset of invincibility. They did not keep strong tabs of their competitors and if they do notice changes in the market, they do not act swiftly on it. If a leading company looks back and finds that a company, like Fuji, which marketed innovative new products that Kodak’s core market actually buys, this must mean that they do not innovate enough and they do not satisfy their customer’s needs. Kodak waited too long before it acknowledged Fuji as an actual threat to losing market share....
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...A Management Comparison of Kodak and Fujifilm BUS302 A Management Comparison of Kodak and Fujifilm Description of the History and Core Businesses Both Kodak and Fujifilm will be examined to identify the similarities and differences in their business successes and failures. Each business will be analyzed to develop a more complete understanding of how the businesses were formed and the paths each has followed to arrive at their current market positions. Kodak Eastman Kodak was started in 1888 when the first Kodak camera introduced and was available for sale to the public. The company was started by George Eastman in Rochester, NY, when Eastman was in his mid-twenties. George Eastman grew up poor and was a high school dropout, but that did not stop him from making money and supporting his widowed mother and two sisters by the time he was 14 years old (History of, 2013). When Eastman was 24 years old, he had planned a trip to Santo Domingo, and had an idea to record the trip. Eastman purchased a large, heavy camera that was as big as a microwave (History of, 2013). Eastman never made the trip to Santo Domingo, but he did become obsessed with photography, and how he could make it simpler to understand. Before Eastman Kodak was formed, George Eastman had started a company, making dry photographic plates, which later lead to the idea of a convenient, simple to use camera that would become known as the Kodak. After the Kodak camera was introduced...
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...including technology, customer needs, opportunities to grow, globalization, and the economy. “Today, organizations must have the capacity to adapt quickly and effectively in order to survive. Often the speed and complexity of change severely test the capabilities of leaders and employees to adapt rapidly enough, but if organizations fail to change, the cost of that failure may be quite high. Hence, leaders and employees must understand the nature of the changes needed and the likely effects of alternative approaches to bring about that change” (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, p. 510). Using Kotter’s Model, Identify the Three (3) Most Significant Errors Made Out of All of the Change Stories Presented and Describe the Ramifications of Those Mistakes. Any organization that wants to grow and stay ahead of the competition should embrace change. Despite this fact, there are many things that can go wrong when an organization decides to make a change. Resistance from employees is one factor that plays a part in an organizations change process failure. The change process must be effectively managed in an effort to lessen the chance of resistance (Palmer, Dunford, and Akin, 2009). The three most significant errors made out of all the change stories presented happened with Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, and McDonald’s. Let’s look at Hewlett-Packard first. In1999 Carly Fiorina became the new CEO. During this time Hewlett-Packard had issues in many departments and lacked...
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...EASTMAN KODAK[1] 1. The Beginning Eastman, a genius and high school dropout, invented a dry-plate process and established (1880) a factory at Rochester, N.Y., for making dry photographic plates. The Eastman Dry Plate Company became Eastman Kodak in 1892. George Eastman came up with the name Kodak himself, after experimenting with many names starting and ending in K, which he considered to be a “strong, incisive kind of letter”. Kodak is now a world renowned company, which ranks as a premier multinational corporation and one of the 25 largest companies in the United States. George Eastman was born in Waterville, New York on July 12, 1854 and moved with his family to Rochester, New York in 1859. He dropped out of school in 1868, at the death of his father. He was poor, but even as a young man, he took it upon himself to support his mother and two sisters, one of whom was severely handicapped. He began his business career as a 14-year old office boy in an insurance company and followed that with work as a clerk in a local bank at age 19. He studied accounting at night to be able to advance in his job. His passion for photography began with the purchase of his first camera in 1878. The invention of the dry-plate process took one year and many sleepless nights trying different formulas. According to his mother, sometimes he was too tired to undress and slept on the kitchen floor. In 1879 he filed first patent for a machine that coated dry photographic plates and founded...
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...Week 3 Assignment 1 Strayer University Managing Organizational Change HRM560 October 23, 2013 Week 3 Assignment 1 1. Using Kotter’s model, identify the three (3) most significant errors made out of all of the change stories presented and describe the ramifications of those mistakes. a) The first significant effort I’d like to discuss is Kodak’s evolution into the digital technology era. I believe the Kotter’s error that relates to them most is, “failing to create short-term wins”. While Kodak felt as if they were making the correct decision, a big goal, coupled with limited planning is a recipe for disaster. Also, by not implementing a series of short-terms wins the staff and investors were both left to wonder what is considered success. If those benchmarks had been set the concern from both of the aforementioned parties could have been ceased or negated altogether. b) The second significant error was made by McDonalds. I believe the Kotter’s error that applies to their scenario is, “Allowing too much complacency”. As an established and well known brand, it is easy for industry leaders such as McDonalds to get complacent. As times change so does the customer. Today’s society is more cognizant of health risk, and now more than ever it is trendy to diet and exercise. As a leading fast-food chain McDonalds should have been ahead of the trend by ways of their research and development. Their complacency resulted in lawsuits and a identify crises that...
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