The decline and legacy of Polaroid instant photography

Polaroid, R.I.

The story of Edwin Land is typical of many current entrepreneurs: a sudden flash of insight leads to an innovation that changes the way in which people perceive and use technology. Land's success and company lasted for a remarkably long time. One of the reasons for this is the time frame in which the Polaroid company provided the public with instant photography. There simply was no other product that could compete with, as the article states, "magic" of instant photography. This is the core of the company's success during its most successful years until the 1970s. During these years, Land found the perfect balance between creating and capturing value; his product provided people with high perceived value.

In the business world, success is often dependent upon the balance that the entrepreneur can achieve between creating and capturing value. Creating value relates to the product and the value that customers receive from its use. In terms of Land's camera, this means that customers were eager to buy the product because it was not only highly innovative, but also because it provided the value of achieving something that had been unheard of to date. Because of this perceived value, Land was also able to capture a large amount of value in terms of profits.