Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (a)
Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A)
Executive Summary The critical problems Polaroid faced in the “Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A)” case are the lack of structures to support innovations and the absence of mechanisms to develop talents. Polaroid’s business revolved around a single product category, which had been under the threat of emerging technologies. The company had retrenched to a narrow focus on profit through cost-cutting and short-term sales promotions instead of business innovations for strategic repositioning. The company’s engineering orientation and respect for “rising-through-the-ranks” made it difficult for innovative endeavors and talents from a different background (particularly females) to bring about strategic changes. The organizational deficiencies at Polaroid manifested themselves through a series of unorthodox choices and manoeuvres of Joline Godfrey and her mentor Jerry Sudbey, which tried to circumvent internal limitations to obtain financial and human resources for the exploration of a strategic alternative. With limited trust and regards for formal processes, Joline turned her Odysseum project into a “private experiment” and failed to compromise tactically with key corporate stakeholders to garner support and legitimacy. The project gradually lost its direction and internal support and the failed initiative cumulated in Joline’s derailment as an agent of change and a young talent with promising creativity. To prevent failures like Joline and her Odysseum project from repeating themselves, we recommend from Polaroid’s organizational perspective to:
1) Introduce a project management office to provide guidelines, assess viability, prioritize resources and establish milestones and deliverables to materialize innovative ideas;
2) Introduce a mentorship program to provide high potential staff with structured training, line exposure, project exposure and strategic guidance for them to
Executive Summary The critical problems Polaroid faced in the “Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A)” case are the lack of structures to support innovations and the absence of mechanisms to develop talents. Polaroid’s business revolved around a single product category, which had been under the threat of emerging technologies. The company had retrenched to a narrow focus on profit through cost-cutting and short-term sales promotions instead of business innovations for strategic repositioning. The company’s engineering orientation and respect for “rising-through-the-ranks” made it difficult for innovative endeavors and talents from a different background (particularly females) to bring about strategic changes. The organizational deficiencies at Polaroid manifested themselves through a series of unorthodox choices and manoeuvres of Joline Godfrey and her mentor Jerry Sudbey, which tried to circumvent internal limitations to obtain financial and human resources for the exploration of a strategic alternative. With limited trust and regards for formal processes, Joline turned her Odysseum project into a “private experiment” and failed to compromise tactically with key corporate stakeholders to garner support and legitimacy. The project gradually lost its direction and internal support and the failed initiative cumulated in Joline’s derailment as an agent of change and a young talent with promising creativity. To prevent failures like Joline and her Odysseum project from repeating themselves, we recommend from Polaroid’s organizational perspective to:
1) Introduce a project management office to provide guidelines, assess viability, prioritize resources and establish milestones and deliverables to materialize innovative ideas;
2) Introduce a mentorship program to provide high potential staff with structured training, line exposure, project exposure and strategic guidance for them to