Polaroid is one of the most entirely recognized consumer brands in the world, thanks to the iconic status of its instant filming cameras. When I was reading the project description and trying to figure out which company could match most to the given task information; I suddenly remembered that it was just two years ago that I was touted the benefits of getting a loved one an old-fashioned Polaroid camera for Valentines Day. After all, the cameras only cost $30, and they're so much fun. However; today, those same cameras cost $140 in the market. I thought what has changed? The scarcity has lead to gigantic opportunistic markups. Polaroid has stopped making the cameras, and a while ago, the company announced that it would stop manufacturing instant film altogether.
Yes, That is correct. Polaroid decided to lay off at least 450 people, by abandoning the product that made it famous, and breaking thousands of hearts along the way. The company’s instant camera became a part of the popular culture like no other camera before or since. Of course, the technology won't be disappearing entirely from our world since Fuji will hopefully continue to make the instant film. And soon there may be tiny digital photo printers which can achieve similar results to the old-fashioned Polaroids. They just won't make that same satisfying click and vibration.
Because Polaroid’s intangible resources are coming from the patents that the company has worked on over the years on technology that they have developed and built on which also allows them having an advantage over the other companies which are not privy to the advances that they have made.
That’s how I started to write about this company who was once a star in the technology field. If we look at what they have done so far, It is surprising not to notice the last 10 years of the company who was trying to renew itself by realizing that they will not find easy solution. Even they faced with hard moments, they created a more advanced digital technology, which was aimed at later continued to work on.
Going back to the class modules; we learned how to make an effective marketing plan. I am pointing this subject because of Polaroid’s marketing weaknesses, which made the things go wrong. Before I talk about their marketing studies; I believe Polaroid seems to have a vague idea of where it needs to prioritize its efforts and mostly focus its product development and marketing plan. However, there is also a lack of cooperation between the senior management and those who develop the technology. This problem occurred in the early nineties when there was a lack of agreement between the developer teams of the products and the management who seemed to create a gap in obtaining contracts with other firms, moving products to development, and mostly capitalizing on their advances in many areas. As a result of disagreement between the product development and the management of the company, the whole case became weak when it comes to figure out what products are important for developing and for bringing to market.
Another main thread was coming from their competitive environment. Both the photography and the film industry has gone almost exclusively digital and the competition is divided between Kodak, Fuji, Sony, Casio, and others who have then entered the market. At the same time, there aren’t many real substitutes both for digital cameras and photography. The market for the traditional photography is shrinking, while the market for digital photography starts to grow and so does the competition. That’s why Polaroid needs to take a cost strategy like there is so much competition. As the computer industry, technology will hopefully get better and the costs will almost come down and they should get on board with this. They have to establish some solid products with competitive prices to aim their marketing at the appropriate group whether it’s businesses or personal users. To implement this strategy, they need to pay more attention to the operations, which needs to be more efficient in speeding up product development and bringing the products to consumers at reasonable prices.
I believe that’s why they got a new CEO who entirely changed the company motto to “towards fast product development” away from large-scale projects. It was simply because of no company could deny that it was a serious investment in technology needed to go through vivacity, which could also not find the chance of making this investment.
It is really amazing to notice all those small weaknesses and the opportunities that the company has faced with. Before learning the class modules, I would read the information and probably would assume that they had a problem with their budget arrangement. There was no way that I would assume, the idea of “the instant film shot- down process” was a result of a harsh competitive market or a weak marketing plan. Of course that is not the only skill I’ve gained when I processed all the strategies in the book. I experienced analyzing a real data and being able to come up with some solutions according to the SWOT analyze results. As in this case; Polaroid still has the opportunity for turning itself around and taking advantage of the fast growing tech market for digital imaging technology. If they success to do this, It means that the company also has the opportunity to capture the business market.
I strongly believe that Polaroid can success since they have the advantage of a growing market for personal digital imaging technology. With Polaroid’s small development team along with the big changes made by the new promoted CEO, they may have an opportunity in the growing market and eventually turn profitable. They seem to work for being in an industry, which is growing quite rapidly which puts the wind at their back.
As a conclusion; by using the company strengths to take advantage of potential opportunities, to eliminate their possible threats, and overcome weaknesses they have a chance at surviving and turning into profitable in this competitive market.