Kodak or The Eastman Kodak Company is a famous photography manufacturer that was dominant in the market until a series of unsuccessful business decisions. Kodak declared bankruptcy in January 2012 for the rapidly changing innovations, and the market demands suppressed its success (Grant, 2015). However, these were not the primary conditions leading to the failure. The company representatives chosen strategy was not planned thoroughly, which resulted in default.
Primarily, the “Razor and blades” plan was originally set to boost the performance. Nonetheless, its steps were neglected since Kodak shifted to the implementation of other initiatives. What is more, the company ignored the research and development procedures, the major marketing drivers, since it considered itself dominant in the market. However, it was outperformed by its competitors, such as Xerox or Fuji Photo Fil Company (Grant, 2015). The era of digital advances was meant to involve Kodak in the elaboration of new products, yet, it merely ignored its call. The manufacturer kept issuing the existing goods without adding technological advances. For example, the digital cameras it produced were outmaneuvered by smartphones (Grant, 2015). The disregard for the developmental problems was a leading cause of the bankruptcy.
Furthermore, the Japanese conglomerate decided to promote itself digitally via Instagram, whereas Kodak resolved to use analog promotions. A photo-sharing platform Ofoto was chosen for the promotion, yet it was not popular among users (Grant, 2015). The company has lost ten years using this website in order to encourage people to print photos, while they wanted to post picture in an online mode. Even though Kodak’s influence was tangible in the market, its unwillingness to follow digital trends led to underperformance and financial crisis.
Reference
Grant, R. (2015). Eastman Kodak’s quest for a digital future. In Contemporary strategy analysis (10th Ed., pp. 557-575). Wiley.