Kodak and Fujifilm
The history and core business of Kodak and Fujifilm

Kodak and Fujifilm have been the most popular companies in the history of U.S. And world photography industry. Little is known about the history and the existing rivalry between the two companies over the years. Both companies have intriguing historical backgrounds; how they began and how they continue to grow and challenge one another in the industry. Fujifilm was set up in early 1934 with the primary objective of becoming the leading Japanese photographic film producer. After ten years of its establishment, the company produced X-ray films, motion picture films and photographic films. By the 1940s, Fujifilm penetrated into the lens, equipment, and optical glass markets. At the end of the Second World War, Fuji photo entered the diversification market, entering the magnetic materials, electronic imaging, and medical printing fields (Hellriegel, Jackson & Slocum, 2008).

On the other hand, Kodak, which….

It is common sense for a company to lower their costs when they are aware of the upcoming losses from the market. Unfortunately, Kodak was slow to realize that where Fujifilm adapted to it quite quickly, After many power changes, the eventual leader Shigetaka Komori put the company on the right path.

The restructuring and the remodeling plan that he started, he basically went onto lay off people and cut down the costs. (the Economist, 2012) in just eighteen months, Komori ensured that the development labels, managers and researchers that were extra, and extra costs were removed from the company. Surely, it was not an easy task to lay off people but the entire change basically reduced the cost about 2.5 billion dollars. (Inagaki and Osawa, 2012)

From all this discussion, we basically see that a failure to change and a lack of strategic planning can cause any company a lot of….

Kodak's Digital Strategy
It is very notable to mention how Kodak experienced a downfall with the emergence of digital imaging. Kodak's stock fell from about 80 USD to 3 USD within a period of less than ten years. The number of employees also declined. In 1988, the company employed about 140,000 employees but currently it has employees of not more than 20,000. This was as an unavoidable challenge and Kodak used all its efforts it had to overcome the challenge of digital imaging just like any other film company. Eastman Kodak had a vision of selling many cameras at lower prices to draw massive profits to the papers, inks and chemical used in printmaking. This strategy saw its downfall with the digital revolution and the foreign competitors negatively affected Kodak's venerable command in the photography business (Grant 22).

Discussion

Kodak slowly responded to this emerging digital revolution. From the time of the introduction….

The company finds itself having to try to attract talented people, but without the cash or desirable location (sorry, Rochester) to attract the best talent. Further, there is perpetual uncertainty about the future of the company. Thus, reinventing itself as an innovator has proven to be a much greater challenge for Kodak than it has been for Fujifilm. Part of the problem was the conservative culture at Kodak, and part of it is that Kodak waited far too long to recognize the changes in the external environment and mount a credible response.
For its part, Fujifilm's management did a better job and the company is performing better today. Also, because it utilizes local production, it is not weighed down by pensions as Kodak is. For both of these companies, the same three steps are recommended to improve managerial flexibility. Both companies need to realize that they are now in the….

Kodak, long dominant in the photography business, has struggled with the transition to digital technology. Beginning in the 1980s, the company saw a number of strategic shifts. The company is now faced with four potential paths ahead, each one representing a different strategic view of the company and the industry. This paper will first present some historical context to Kodak's current situation, and then discuss the different strategic options in turn. As a result of this analysis, a recommendation will be made with respect to the best path forward for Kodak.
For most of its life, Kodak was a dominant photography company, with a business built on technological superior in silver halide imaging and on economies of scale. Only when Japanese firms began entering the U.S. market did Kodak face any serious competition. By the time this was occurring, the first digital cameras were being introduced. At this point, Kodak was….

" (Tully, 2004 p. 61) Though die hard print photography lovers, mostly professional photographers who do much of their own developing, may complain about the rapid advances of digital technology, as they are still set in the abilities of the print film technology to do things digital cannot yet the decision made in 2004 proved wise. There may be a time in the future when some of these changes can be reversed on a professional level the changes are crucial today, to save this consumer driven brand. (Tully, 2004 p. 61)
Though there are clear arguments for and against digital technology, that expanse broad circumstances, it is clear that this highly consumer driven technology will advance to an even better system than is currently available. Technology continues to drive the consumer, especially in today's global world market. The development of better digital technology may eventually outmode all film print technology and….

Kodak
Eastman Kodak has been facing difficulty external environmental circumstances for nearly two decades, as the digital photography revolution has severely impacted Kodak's business. The company's revenues have declined for at least the past five years, and in four of those years Kodak recorded a loss. In the fifth year, 2007, the profit derived from "extraordinary items" rather than operating income (MSN Moneycentral, 2011). The company's businesses include digital and still cameras, inkjet printers, retail printing kiosks, imaging sensors, document scanners and photographic film, paper and processing chemicals (Eastman Kodak 2010 Annual Report). The declining demand conditions have been in place for a long time, but Kodak does not seem to have any answers as to how to build its business, either in photography or in other imaging product or service lines. Inkjet printer systems are one of the only growth businesses for Kodak, with sales up 45% in 2010. Every….

foresees that the wide-reaching digital camera market will rise from twenty five percent annually to six billion dollars in 2003. If Kodak maintains a twenty percent share, cameras might become a one billion dollar business for the corporation.
he fourth support of Kodak's digital policy is already paying indelibly. Over the past two years, the business has mounted some 19,000 Picture Maker booths at trade stores wide-reaching that print images from together digital and customary film. hese plans agree to unenthusiastic, CDs digital-camera remembrance cards and permit consumers to edit pictures and make its copies. At about $15,000 each one, Carp states they are extremely cost-effective and report for about $200 million in auctions. With ninety five percent of consumers who use them coming back frequently as they manufacture stable photo manuscript auctions. However, each of Kodak's innovative products will be beneath strong viable pressure every step of the mode.….

Investing in new research and development and trying to outshine Fuji should have been the main objective. This could be accomplished through more R&D funds, more canny market assessment of consumer needs, and providing bonuses for innovation, not cutting back salaries and making staff member's dependant upon bonuses for their livelihood.
How does this example relate to the concept of economic Darwinism?

According to the theory of economic Darwinism: "behavior leading to the lowest payoff" leads to arbitrary behavior when a company attempts to replace that behavior with better policies (Sloth & Jacobson, 2006). In other words, when confronted with the reality that a previous strategy does not work, in this case the long release of new products in an increasingly competitive environment, companies have difficulty behaving rationally, even after they have realized what worked in the past no longer works in the reality of the current market environment. They try….

The company is not exactly starting from scratch, but in some ways it will have to behave as a new company in a new industry in order to shape its image in a new way and to decide on how to create a unique niche for itself.
Opportunities:

The company has the opportunity to forge a new identity and to enter new fields in a way that will serve its needs into the future. How to do this is the problem. Other companies also have the opportunity to do the same, which increases competition for Kodak and so makes whatever it does come under greater scrutiny.

Threats:

The entire shift to digital is the biggest threat to the traditional business of the company and has already reduced its overall effectiveness. Other entrants into the same field include Canon, Fuji, and Sony, and these companies also have considerable funding and much expertise that Kodak….

Kodak Case Study
The primary factor that motivated Kodak to change its organizational architecture was a decrease in performance, or at the very least a decrease in relative performance when compared to other companies in the industry (Case, n.d.). More specifically, the falling stock price that the company experienced from 1982 to 1984, which was certain to be displeasing to the board of directors in and of itself and which also marked a drop in stockholder and investor confidence in the company, prompted the changes the organization undertook (Case, n.d.). The increased pace of innovation and of bringing new products to market was also an impetus fror the company in designing and adopting the changes to organizational architecture that the company deemed necessary (Case, n.d.). Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that increased competition and a fall for the company from the safe and secure pinnacle of the….

Kodak
There are several key objectives that Kodak should set. The first is that it has to achieve significant financial objectives. There should be revenue and profit targets for the company, as declining revenues and profits have been identified as key issues. The third objective should be with respect to operations. Kodak has suffered in recent years because it has not adjusted quickly to changing technology. The company should set as an objective that it needs to be much faster on its feet. Thus, the company needs to establish itself both operationally and culturally as an innovator. Innovation can be measured in the number of new patents or in the number of new product launches. Human resources objectives should include lowering the average age of the workforce, and bringing in more creative young people to the business. The company recognizes that it needs to revitalize the way it approaches business, but….

Kodak
In the 1990s, Kodak was the pioneer of technology and one of the most popular names in the tech world. It was this company that actually made one of the first digital cameras and went on to rule the camera business all through the 1990s. Today, the value of the company has dropped from 20 billion pounds to just 100 million pounds in the past fifteen years. ("KODAK MOMENTS FOM GOING," 2012, p. 6) When it was founded in 1880s, the slogan of Kodak was "You press the button, we do the rest." This shows that Kodak itself was quite aware of how ahead it was as compared to other companies. People bought the goods, relied on the products and were glad that they were using Kodak. Due to the advent of digital photography and digital cameras, Kodak's success started to decline all because of one reason. Where many companies….

Kodak and Fujifilm, And Leadership Assessment
Kodak and Fujifilm

The History and Core Business of Each Company

Eastman Kodak, in the words of Hill and Jones (2007, p. 482), "was incorporated in new jersey on October 24, 1901, as a successor to the Eastman Dry Plate Co., the business originally established by George Eastman in September 1880." It is important to note that as the authors further point out, the Dry Plate Company had primarily been established to facilitate the development of the more portable and user friendly dry photographic plate. Essentially, Eastman is credited with laying a strong foundation for a fledging business. His key goal was to see photography simplified. It was not, however, until 1888 that the availability of photography to everyone stated to appear as a rather realistic goal. In 1888, Eastman introduced the very first camera that could be easily carried around (Hill and Jones, 2007). According to….

Kodak
Eastman Kodak was once the dominant player in photography, as a maker of film in particular, but all other ancillary photography products as well. The advent of digital cameras put the nail into the coffin of this business, which had already been challenged by the arrival of new players into the market. Since that point, Kodak has basically been in a death spiral, laying off employees, selling off businesses, and losing market value. The company's most recent successes were lawsuits that it filed in defense of some of its patents. The company is now valued at just $300 million, but it has $2.6 billion in unfunded pension obligations and there are doubts as to whether or not Kodak will survive the year.

Objectives

There are many objectives that Kodak can set for itself. The first operational target is to have a profitable business that does not involve selling patents. ight now, what….