Kodak: The Biggest Corporate Casualty in the Digital Age?
Taking pictures would never be the same again as Eastman Kodak Company; the firm that invented the hand-held camera recently filed for bankruptcy protection and also announced that the company has plans to cut-down significantly.
In the official information posted in the company's website, Eastman Kodak Company and its U.S. subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 business reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. This is part of the company's business reorganization which would enable the company to bolster liquidity (U.S. and abroad), monetize non-strategic intellectual property, resolve its legal liabilities and enable the firm to focus on core business plans. This petition would not affect non-U.S. subsidiaries and would carry on as usual. Kodak also assured that it would "business as usual" for the company during this reorganization period and specified that they will continue on with customer programs, pay Kodak employees their usual salary and benefits, and honor all post-petition obligations with their suppliers.
Kodak's recent filing of Chapter 11 makes the company as one of the biggest corporate casualties in the digital age. The company was not able to fully embrace modern technology in their business operation like the digital camera, a product which the company invented. Other companies were able to develop new and modern ways for the digital camera which left Kodak unable to compete with the fast-paced competition. In an effort to keep the business afloat, Kodak has moved its focus away from cameras and turned it into printers in order to gain its losses.
Rupert Goodwins, editor of ZDNet made a comment about this situation stating that "Kodak made all its money from selling film, then the digital camera came along and now no-one's buying film. It's not like they didn't see it coming. Kodak hesitated because they didn't want to eviscerate their business." This sentiment was echoed back by former Kodak VP, Don Strickland. According to Strickland, the company's late entry into the digital market is a major contributor to the problems that the company is facing today. He stated that "We developed the world's first consumer digital camera and Kodak could have launched it in 1992. We could not get approval to launch or sell it because of fear of the cannibalization of film."
Kodak once dominated the industry since its founding in the year 1880. Kodak has been in the business for at least 133 years and this is the biggest crisis that the company has to deal with. Kodak has 19,000 employees worldwide and the futures of these employees are still undetermined due to this current situation. If the company would not be able to find a solution out of this problem, the "Kodak moments" that people have shared throughout the years could be the last ones to be shared.