Kodak and the Digital Revolution
Kodak and the Digital Revolution
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[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 as the Photo CD. In an attempt to integrate this new technology with the CD-ROM in a meeting with Bill Gates, Whitmore’s lack of interest made her fall asleep.
§ Over a 10 year span, beginning when Kodak was able to achieve about 90% of the film market and 85% of U.S. camera sales Kodak diversified the company by acquiring many companies related and unrelated to the film and digital camera business. By the end of this massive diversification process led by CEO Colby Chandler, Kodak lost
[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 as the Photo CD. In an attempt to integrate this new technology with the CD-ROM in a meeting with Bill Gates, Whitmore’s lack of interest made her fall asleep.
§ Over a 10 year span, beginning when Kodak was able to achieve about 90% of the film market and 85% of U.S. camera sales Kodak diversified the company by acquiring many companies related and unrelated to the film and digital camera business. By the end of this massive diversification process led by CEO Colby Chandler, Kodak lost