LYCEUM-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

MARKETING MANAGEMENT: CASE STUDY ON KODAK COMPANY THAT FAILED TO

INNOVATE, RESULTING IN BUSINESS FAILURE

OWNER
GEORGE EASTMAN

PRESENTED BY:

ROGELIO CABAEL JR.

MBA STUDENT

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LYCEUM-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
MARKETING MANAGEMENT

SUMMARY
George Eastman, a youthful amateur photographer and school dropout, was one
of the first people in the United States to commercially produce dry plates in 1880. The
Eastman Dry Plate Company was a partnership established by Eastman and Henry
Strong a year later.
With the tagline "You press the button, we do the rest," George Eastman
distributed the first straightforward camera to consumers worldwide in 1888. By doing
this, he simplified a difficult procedure and made it available to almost everyone.
Like Eastman, who wanted to make photography "as convenient as the pencil,"
Kodak is always looking for new ways to incorporate images into people's daily lives.
Kodak, once the largest film manufacturer in the world, was unable to keep up
with the digital revolution for fear of losing customers to competitors' stronger product
lines. The corporation that was in charge of designing, manufacturing, and marketing
photographic equipment had numerous chances to guide the business in the correct
path, but it failed because it was reluctant to fully embrace the shift to digital. Kodak,
for instance, spent billions of dollars creating technology for snapping photos with
smartphones and other digital cameras. For fear of losing its crucial film business, it
postponed creating digital cameras for the general public. Competitors, including the
Japanese company Canon, seized this chance and have since outlasted the mammoth.
Another illustration is Kodak's 2001 purchase of the photo-sharing website Ofoto.
However, Kodak utilized Ofoto to promote the printing of digital photographs rather
than creating what might have been an Instagram precursor. After declaring
bankruptcy in 2012 and discontinuing the majority of its product lines, Kodak
reemerged in 2013 as a much smaller, consolidated corporation that was concentrated
on catering to commercial clients.

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LYCEUM-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
MARKETING MANAGEMENT

STRENGTH:

As one of the leading brands in its industry, Eastman Kodak Company has numerous
strengths that enable it to thrive within the marketplace. Though the company filed for
bankruptcy in 2011, the company made a loyal customer base through its quality
products. So let’s dive in and know about the strengths of Kodak in detail.
 Product portfolio – Kodak has a wide range of products in the market. It has
products for industrial, personal and commercial use like photographic photo-
finishing services, paper and chemicals, graphic arts, medical/X-ray films, and
microfilming equipment.
 Reliable suppliers – Quality supply of raw material is the need of every
business and Kodak has a strong base of reliable suppliers of raw materials thus
enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
 After-sale service – The company’s dedicated customer service department
has a high level of satisfaction among its existing and potential customers. This
department has been able to achieve this level due to its dedicated staff
members.
 Trained workforce – Successful training and development programs help
develop a highly skilled workforce. Through effective training and learning
programs, the company’s highly skilled workforce is motivated to achieve more.

WEAKNESS:
 Virtual stores – Even though Kodak had such goodwill they didn’t try to go
digital, while others were selling their products on the internet, this affected their
sales. Later on, they started adopting digital methods but it was too late.
 Lack of Vision – Due to its slow transmission from analogue to digital, Optical &
imaging technology has suffered huge losses in terms of decreasing market
share. They didn’t adapt to the new marketing trends and eventually had to
suffer losses.
 Market Knowledge – Being one of the biggest market brands Kodak was
unable to see the needs of people and changes in the market for their products

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LYCEUM-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
MARKETING MANAGEMENT

and due to technology, they didn’t adapt to the current situation

resulting in a huge market loss.

OPPORTUNITIES:
In the era of best camera selling phones, companies like kodak still have a chance to
survive and make a comeback in the market keeping different things in mind like:
 Adapting – It is time for Kodak to move from photo films to the digital camera
and other quality stuff. The shift in the technology & easy transmission to the
platforms which will turn around the company is essential which they realized
and are now coming up with their smartphones with fantastic imaging
technology.
 Market and Lifestyle – With the changing time and technology, smartphones
have become an essential part of the lifestyle Kodak must work on developing
cameras for mobiles and sell them to different mobile producers.
 Broad product category – Kodak provides many products but it doesn’t have
enough products for the growing needs of people in the market. They need to
focus more on mobile telephony.
 3D printing – The world is now looking at an increase in interest in the 3D
printing industry, Kodak should work on creating 3D printing machines and
introduce technology in that category.

THREATS:
 Competition – Since Kodak was out of the market trend for many years it has a
disadvantage in the market. The competitors are coming with new technology
and ideas that Kodak is lacking in the innovation process.
 Substitute products – With the change in lifestyle, people are more into handy
devices like mobile phones or GoPro which are easy to carry and provide good
quality images.
 People’s Approach – Due to no significant switching cost companies are
finding it hard to retain their customers while in the case of Kodak this switching

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LYCEUM-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
MARKETING MANAGEMENT

is high due to the low acceptability of their products and aggressive

branding by its competitors.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

 Observe the power shift to consumers - Know your customers and what
influences your customer purchase patterns and decisions which influence the
demands of a consumer and the value proposition of a product or service.
 Technological advancement - allows easier access to information and selection of
products which have diversified
 Always conduct your SWOT analysis periodically – as to whether your product
can solve the consumers problems and issues – to avoid blind-spot and any
potential threats that can weaken your business strategies.
 Always check your competitors extensively and adopt the H2H mindset and
methodology (1. Design Thinking, 2. Service Dominant Logic and 3.
Digitalization) – in order to create a competitive advantage to your firm
marketing strategies.
 Use the market intelligence properly - In Kodak’s case, although Kodak’s MI has
identified the potential future technology in digital cameras, Kodak’s
management did not prepare themselves on the disruptive technology.
 Making decisions interactively using a variety of methods - This refers to the
ability to incorporate a range of sophisticated decision support tools when
tackling complex business problems. Kodak had a very effect decision support
process in place but failed to use that information effectively.

MARKETING STRATEGY:

 Position Kodak as a highly innovative imaging solutions brand in both Business-

to-Business and Business-to-Consumer markets within next two years
 Rationalize the product portfolio within next two years in order to utilize Critical
Factors for Success and remain competitive in the changing market
 Increase the sales contribution of innovations in order to rationalize the Research
& Development investments
 Design and implement internal marketing programme to change focus from
product orientation to solution-based service orientation while changing the
recruitment and selection process of sales personnel.

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LYCEUM-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
MARKETING MANAGEMENT

 Shifting focus from traditional above the line advertising to modern

cost-effective digital platforms
 Sales promotion [both Above the Line and Below the Line marketing with
increased focus on online promotion]
 Use of blogs and social networking
 Favorable credit terms

REFERENCES

 https://www.kodak.com/en/company/page/history
 https://pestleanalysis.com/kodak-swot-analysis/
 https://prezi.com/p/di71wrv0ryez/kodak-marketing-strategy/?fallback=1
 https://startuptalky.com/kodak-bankruptcy-case-study/