+1-817-968-5551
+61-488-839-671
+44-7480-542904About Expert
Key Topics
Requirement
- Was Kodak aware in advance that digital was an existential threat? Support your response with facts from the case.
-
What had been Kodak’s business strategy (Porter generic) in traditional photography? What Eastman quotes support this contention? Complete an external analysis of the demand for photography products and services during Kodak’s heyday. Describe the technology investments that enabled execution of the business strategy. How much financial value did Kodak capture in 1990.
-
Complete an external analysis of the demand for photography products and services today. Has it increased? Declined? Is there a place for Kodak's traditional strategy as defined by Eastman in today's market. Who is capturing that value today? How much financial value are they capturing?
-
How would you evaluate Fishers attempt to transform Kodak? Was it successful? Why?
-
Compare traditional photography to digital photography. What are the main structural differences? Which complementary assets from Kodak's chemical photography days are still valuable. Which ones are not?
-
Was it an impossible problem? Had the potential to capture value in the photography market disappeared at the time of the case?
-
What moves have Fujifilm made since the time of the case and since to adjust to the changing market? Might some of these alternatives been open to Kodak? Why or why not.
Solution
1.Was Kodak aware in advance that digital was an existential threat? Support your response with facts from the case.
Answer.
Kodak was fully aware of the fact that the digital was an existential threat, and the company executives had perceived this existential threat towards the organization to be a direct filmmaking competitor like the Fuji Film instead of a rapidly emerging category of their inkjet printers and digital cameras and also their smartphone cameras. Kodak also redefined itself from a film company to an image company for including digital imaging as a part of their company. The change in the global market had impacted the cost pressure and also threatened their business. Therefore, the intellectual capital of the company was affected. The CEO of the company refocused the core competencies and also joined the trend of outsourcing with highly close relations to their suppliers and performed some restructuring efforts. The company was not able to grow out of its own competitiveness issues which included major price competition from Fuji, the biggest international competitor. Fuji at that time was engaged in the major price-cutting campaign which also aimed at expanding their market share. In order to respond to these steps, the company started making more significant changes that were designed for reducing the cost and then to recapture their market share in the core product of the company. Still, the efforts were futile and led to decreased market share and ultimately declining profit.
The experts of Allassignmenthelp.com are experienced and always provide students with the best management assignment help. If you believe you will be unable to complete your assignment on your own, you can seek assistance from our management assignment essay writing service. By taking our cost management assignment help you can score the best grades in your academics.
2. What had been Kodak's business strategy (Porter generic) in traditional photography? What Eastman quotes support this contention? Complete an external analysis of the demand for photography products and services during Kodak's heyday. Describe the technology investments that enabled execution of the business strategy. How much financial value did Kodak capture in 1990?
Answer.
The business strategy of Kodak was differentiation with great networking process, and the company was one of the pioneers in its field and provided high quality at lower prices. Gradually with the increase in the competition, the cost of the product started to increase. The company adopted the strategy of international distribution, low cost, customer orientation, and extensive advertising. The company focused on their extensive distribution process with great contacts with the suppliers which were one of the strengths of the company.These strategies helped in the growth of the company for a long period of continuous development in the research department.
The slogan by Eastman saying"You press the button, we do the rest." In 1962, the company reached $1 billion in sales. The period of 1962-1985 was a successful period for Kodak, and the company introduced around 126 new cameras in the 1960s and 110 in 1970s due to high demand from the customers. These products helped the company to move beyond the photography to the graphic arts and medical imaging. These products were basically exploited from the traditional silver-halide technology and also represented various incremental improvements. By 1976, the company was holding almost 90% of the market shares, and almost 85% of their cameras sell in the United States only. But with the emergence of Fuji, the company declined due to high competition from Fuji.
3. Complete an external analysis of the demand for photography products and services today. Has it increased? Declined? Is there a place for Kodak's traditional strategy as defined by Eastman in today's market? Who is capturing that value today? How much financial value are they capturing?
Answer.
The demand for the photography products and the services today has increased substantially.The main submarkets for the competitive dynamics of the photography products and services include home printing, digital cameras, online services and retail solutions (minilabs and kiosks). The pioneering position of the company taken by Kodak was eventually taken by Canon and Fuji which now leads the way and has the highest market share in the field of photography products and the services. And the competitors of the company include Sony, Olympus, Kodak, and Hewlett-Packard. The strategy of Fuji was similar to Kodak's as both of these companies emphasized on the coexistence of film and digital. Both of the companies had a high focus on the incremental effects of digital technology. Fuji works hard in its R&D department and ascertains that the consumers are still enjoying photography. Fuji has 60% the United States' digital mini-labs.
Whereas, in the case of Canon the company has been enjoying the highest global market share and is the pioneer in electronic photography.
4. How would you evaluate Fishers' attempt to transform Kodak? Was it successful? Why?
Answer.
The company suffered from the strengthening dollar and from growing softness in the international market. The company was a high-cost manufacturer, and the high portfolio of their digital products and services were losing millions of dollars yearly which could not be helped, and George Fisher, the CEO of Kodak took some actions but instead ended up making various mistakes. Fischer bought a wide chain of photo retail stores but ultimately sell those stores at a loss. George Fisher tried to focus on the core competencies and therefore helped to join the trend of outsourcing and helped to maintain close relations with their suppliers. Fisher then announced a new explicit social contract as one of the steps towards their restructuring effort, in part by cutting around 20000 jobs. The company could not perform better than its competitors and could not manage the competitiveness problems like the high price from its biggest competitor that is Fuji, which was focusing highly on the price-cutting campaign and therefore aimed towards increasing its market share in the international territory. In return, Kodak responded by making various changes like reduction in costs and recapturing of the market share in the core products of the company. These steps did not help them and ultimately lead to market share and therefore towards declining profit. Many analysts believe that Fischer should have cut those costs sooner and believe that he pumped up the amount into many digital products instead of focusing on the strength of the company.
5. Compare traditional photography to digital photography. What are the main structural differences? Which complementary assets from Kodak's chemical photography days are still valuable? Which ones are not?
Answer.
The instant photography threatened the profits of Kodak from the film and chemicals. Thus, Kodak came up with the introduction of instant photography and threatened the way for Polaroid. These products of instant photography were basically exploited from the traditional silver-halide technology and also represented various incremental improvements. Whereas digital photography helped to the customers by offering better value and wiped out the way for Kodak for making any money. By 1999, Kodak lost its position and in order to attain its position in the market again and in one of the bids for replicating the Silver Halide business model in digital photography, Kodak offered a Photo CD film-based product for digital imaging product. But the product was priced at $500 per player and also around $20 per disc, but it did not attract many customers. The image sensor technology of the company and the high-quality photo printing are still the most useful assets of the company. On the other hand, photo-films are now out of business due to the emergence of digital technology. The technologies used in printing the image from the photo-films are also out of the business and of no use.
6. Was it an impossible problem? Had the potential to capture value in the photography market disappeared at the time of the case?
Answer.
The problem was a severe one but not impossible. The company should have exercised the high road strategy and should have inculcated high level of innovations along with judicious pricing due to the reason that if the company would have started to compete on the pricings than they would be running towards the risk of transforming this category into a mere commodity. The company should not have reacted desperately towards the movement made by its competitors but should instead have tried to protect their market. The potential for capturing the value in the photography market had not disappeared, but the company needed to be updated with the revolutions in the marketplace and should have come up with a strategy of the company which could meet the expectations. Kodak could sense the change taking place in the market but still did not take considerate actions.
Place Order For A Top Grade Assignment Now
We have some amazing discount offers running for the students
Place Your Order7. What moves has Fujifilm made since the time of the case and since to adjust to the changing market? Might some of these alternatives be open to Kodak? Why or why not.
Answer.
Fujifilm has adopted highly to the changes taking place in the marketplace and is a leading force in the film industry. Fujifilm has embraced all the diversified spirit in all the aspects of the relevancy of the market. The company maintains production standards for the satisfaction of their customers. Fujifilm has since then prepared for the rapid changing needs of the customers and the market and therefore has widened the business scope to the printers, digital cameras, photocopiers and optical devices. The company has further tapped into the health sector and produces medical equipment like chemicals and X-ray imaging. These alternatives were open to Kodak. Also, the company only needed to have an efficient R&D department.
Give your grades a boost
Just share your requirements and get customized solutions on time.
-
1,168,768 Orders
-
4.9/5 Overall Rating
-
5,052 Experts
