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 it needs a human resources strategy that will facilitate that. So these are the five key objectives for the company, and it is believed that if the human resources objectives are met that the company will be able to meet the other objectives. It should be noted that achieving these objectives will require significant commitment from leadership to mark a shift in the focus of the company -- without leadership buy-in none of this will work (Kotter, 2010).
2. Kodak has sought to build its competencies through horizontal and vertical integration. The company has long been a vertically-integrated company that built its own solutions, but today this technique is not fast enough -- competitors are innovating at a much faster rate. For consumer applications especially, Kodak's strategy with respect to vertical integration is inadequate. It needs to be more open to outside technology and not so reliant on internal research and development, which is costly and can move slowly (Wharton, 2012). A similar view can be taken of Kodak's...
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
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
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
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
Eastman Kodak: Problem Analysis and Recommendations Over the last few years, our company has been on a loss making streak. Our sales margins have continued to decrease year after year. This effectively means that we no longer dominate the photographic film marketplace like we used to do just over a decade ago. It is important to note that as our performance (in terms of sales) further declines, our competitors, including but
S/G/a expenses were 19.6% of sales in 2005 and 17.1% of sales in 2009. It would take a further 16% reduction in the S/G/a expense just to break even at 2009 sales, so a cut of 20% or more in 2010 is needed to allow the company to break even in the face of steadily declining sales. One piece of goods news, however, is that the company's revenues improved
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