Bertrand Duperrin's Library tagged Kodak → View Popular, Search in Google

May

2012

Barriers to Change: The Real Reason Behind the Kodak Downfall

"Kodak has recently declared bankruptcy. Usually, when this hits the news it is analyzed by the numbers people who, looking at five years’ worth of financial data, give their quantitative and financial explanation of the failure. More qualitative types will go back 10 years sometimes, and even go beyond finances to talk about strategy, CEOs, competition, and the like. Recent well-done Financial Times articles (here and here) go back even further for Kodak. And yet people still fail to see Kodak’s real problem."

www.forbes.com/...ason-behind-the-kodak-downfall

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casestudies kodak innovation culture change

a new technology has fierce competitors, low margins and cannibalizes your high margin core business. And Kodak did not take decisive action to combat the inevitable challenges.
Answer: The organization overflowed with complacency
3 more annotation(s)...
- Historically, Kodak was built on a culture of innovation and change. It’s the type of culture that’s full of passionate innovators, already naturally in tune to the urgency surrounding changes in the market and technolog
- One key to avoiding complacency is to ensure these innovators have a voice with enough volume to be heard (and listened to) at the top
- As Kodak became more successful, complacency grew, leaders listened less to these voices,

Nov

2011

Turn around and face the market

"Paying attention to customers seems like such a fundamental thing. So why do so many companies do it so poorly? How do companies lose touch with their customers, and lose their grip on the realities of the marketplace?"

www.dachisgroup.com/...urn-around-and-face-the-market

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customer growth opportunities strategy competition rigidity culture casestudies IBM Apple Sony Starbuck GE Kodak xerox customercentricity

Without question, customers are the single biggest factor in any company’s long-term growth and profitability. And yet, as companies grow, distractions multiply. Success can create such a dazzling array of opportunities that companies try to capitalize on too many of them, over-expanding and diluting their offering
Caught up in whirlwind growth, some companies become distracted by a landscape of opportunity and try to do everything just because they can.
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- “Obsessed with growth, we took our eye off operations and became distracted from the core of our business” says Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, in Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul.
- While trying to do too many things can be a problem, a focus that’s too narrow can be equally problematic.
- “They just could not seem to see that they were in the information business… Xerox had been infested by a bunch of spreadsheet experts who thought you could decide every product based on metrics. Unfortunately, creativity wasn’t on a metric.”
- But history has shown over and over that you can’t protect your customers from new, disruptive innovations, and if you’re not willing to cannibalize your business then someone else will.
- When a company is large and successful, its size can be its worst enemy, especially when it is so dominant that it lacks serious competition. A company culture that drove success in the early days can become overly codified, rigid and ritualistic over time.
- Name a company you love, a company you are loyal to, a company you buy things from all the time, and you will inevitably find a company that’s connected to its customers; that knows who they are and what they care about.
- But some things won’t change. Customers will always want great experiences, great service, convenience, selection, low prices and fast delivery.
- When in doubt, don’t look inside your company for answers. Turn around and face the market. Get back in touch with your customers.
- Why? In some cases they don’t understand how social networks will impact the business. They can’t see a clear path or understand the implications. In most companies, however, there are a few people who do understand. But bureaucracy, corporate culture, blind spots, fear and risk-avoidant behaviors stand in their way.