Eastman Kodak case

Résumé du document

Last year, 74 million digital cameras were sold worldwide, outperforming film cameras for the first time. Even though Kodak began the digital imaging revolution in 1974, with the first "electronic hand held still camera", it made a late entry into the space, losing out to Japanese rivals. Only now, the company seems to have caught up with its competitors, ranking third in consumer digital camera sales worldwide behind Sony and Canon. Nevertheless, even if Kodak holds a good position in the market today, we can predict that it will not last. The company is present in each field of the digital world: cameras, printers, mini labs, paper, online system, and the development of all these products show the deep will of Kodak to stay competitive. However, the firm is facing difficulties in each of these segments, and these weaknesses will jeopardize its future. Kodak today is not the leader in the photography world anymore.

Extraits

[...] It launched Kodak EasyShare digital cameras. The market share of this product is good today, but Kodak has to take into account new threats. The main competition today comes from camera phones, and new competitors are Nokia or Samsung, whose business is growing. Having a camera phone is something more practical for individuals, and the quality of the pictures is increasing. Even if Kodak has a good market share thanks to its own digital cameras today, it will undoubtedly stay a follower in this part of the industry because camera phones will soon outnumber digital cameras. [...]

[...] Team Zebra: How 1500 Partners Revitalized Eastman Kodak's Black & White Film-Making Flow, Stephen Frangos , Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New Ed, May 1995. [...]

[...] The product design, the look, the feel, the style, the colour, the simplicity of use has to be highlighted, as Apple did with Ipod. Companies that find their business model threatened by rapid technological change often fail to adapt it successfully. To survive, Kodak should try to capitalise on new opportunities in trying to design easier-to-use equipment. But we can not hope a good future for Kodak without any Asian acquisitions. Chinese and Japanese companies are pioneers in technologies, and seem to be the only solution for Kodak to survive. Digital is by far less capital-intensive than film. [...]

[...] What Kodak now has to do is to build a focused strategy and to choose whether it gives up totally its traditional industries or not. Keeping on investing in both sectors will make the recovery more complex and longer. The firm can not keep on losing money like today, and only a financial recovery will allow it to invest more efficiently in the future. Bibliography Eastman Kodak Case: Implementation of Tqem at Kodak Park's Utilities Division, Lester B. Lave, World Resources Inst, September 1997. [...]

[...] A field in which Kodak is still a leader is photo-quality paper. Of course, with the decrease of the amount of printing today, this product is not a growth opportunity for Kodak. The potential growth of Kodak today could come from the fact that it can build a real Kodak network in the digital world. Everyone knows the successful story of Apple, which created a network of users around the world. The firm is successful thanks to the values it conveys, which are shared by all Apple's fans: freedom, simplicity, rapidity Kodak managed to do this as well when it launched the first wireless consumer digital camera, Easyshare one, which is part of the company's efforts to create a networked system in digital photography, that allows consumers to view, e-mail, or print their images anywhere, anytime. [...]