1. What factors motivated Kodak to change its organizational architecture?
There were several factors that motivated Kodak to change its organizational architecture. For many years Kodak owned the market and there was very little to no competition. Quite suddenly they found that they had many strong competitors which took its toll on Kodak’s market share. In addition, technological advancement made it easier for the competition to get their products to the market. As a result of these changes, Kodak saw its stock prices decrease substantially.

2. What mistakes did Kodak make in changing its architecture?
There is not a lot of information about the particulars of all that went in to the architecture changes that went on at Kodak. One can assume from the information given that they made two very large changes to their architecture in a very short amount of time. Decentralizing decision was a large change. It would have been necessary to have a control system in place for a change like this and yet that change didn’t seem to happen for three years. When Kodak changed to the MAPP, again they were lacking the balance that was needed for that system to work.

3. What might it have done differently?
As with any change the one thing to keep in mind is balance. They should have made sure that the changes they were making were balanced. Decision makers need to make sure that they are remembering the “three legs of a stool” principle when making major changes. Decision rights, Controls and Trade-Offs all need to be balanced when major changes are being considered and implemented.

4. How does this example relate to the concept of economic Darwinism?
Kodak was living the high life not paying much attention to what was going on around it and found itself in the situation where they were unable to compete. Because they had enjoyed the lack of real competition for so long, they were not ready for it when it finally arrived. And, as history showed, their response did not have positive results. Economic Darwinism “suggests that the form of organization that survives in an activity is the one that delivers the product demanded by customers at the lowest price while covering costs.” (Brickley, Smith, & Zimmerman, 2007) Kodak was not prepared to do that and they lost their control of the market.

Brickley, J. A., Smith, C. W., & Zimmerman, J. L. (2007). Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture (4th ed.).