Eastman Kodak Company Case

Eastman Kodak Company

1. Summary about the Eastman Kodak Company case

Kodak was the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of imaging products and has one of the world's most recognized and respected brand names once. Kodak Company was founded in 1880 in Rochester, New York and engages in the imaging technology industry. The company operates in four segments: Digital and Film Imaging Systems, Health, Commercial Imaging, and Graphic Communications. For most of its history, Kodak focused on film technology and became a world leader in film and film camera sales. In the mid-1970s, Kodak controlled 90% of the film market. With the advent of and increasing demand for digital imaging technology throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Kodak faced declining demand for its film products and decreasing market share in the overall camera market.

Finally, East Kodak Company declared bankruptcy on January 19, 2012.

2. Macro Environment Analysis (P.E.S.T Analysis)

 Political Environment

Every company regardless of size is equal in mature market economy system. In such a just system, Kodak Company with a great failure cannot survive under the legal principle of equality.

 Economic Environment

a) The economic crisis of 2008 may hurt the company's operations. The company's failure, part of the reason is that world economic goes down.

b) In fact, the demand for digital cameras keep growing since 1990s.

 Social Environment

One of the largest social trends in recent years has been the growth of internet communities. Sites such as mySpace and facebook.com link millions of members to each other. Users create profiles, leave messages for each other, and host blogs and discussions. These communities have extensive photo-sharing capabilities where users can upload photos to share with their friends, decreasing the need for photo-developing.

 Technological Environment

With the trend toward integration and portability, we have seen growth of photo

processing at in-store kiosks. The total number of prints has remained stagnant over the past six years; traditional prints have declined while the number of digital prints has risen. This shows that demand for printed photos has not fallen; it is just of a different kind. Today, customers can transport memory cards holding hundreds of pictures to their local supermarket or drugstore and edit and develop pictures in less than five minutes. The number of prints made at home peaked in 2005 and is projected to fall in 2006, while the number of prints made at retailers in 2006 will nearly double.