Why Kodak fails in Planning

Kodak strictly follows the long-term plan but fails in the short-term plans to keep the present
trends customer in the film market and big development of Digital world. Current business
trends in India the start-up companies are follow the short term trending formula in the retail
market to become 8Th year to big sponsor in the current trend to attain success.
Whatever giants in the core business needs the study the current market situation to adopt the
changes to stream line the success best example is “Hindustan Unilever Limited”.
For 40 years, you couldn’t walk through Grand Central Station in New York without admiring the
Kodak Coloramas. These 18x60 foot photographs showcased the Kodak brand to commuters,
highlighting the creativity of great photography in a series of “Kodak moments.” Kodak marketing
executives were adept at weaving the brand into the fabric of America for generations. In fact, at its
peak, Kodak captured 90% of the US film market and was one of the world’s most valuable brands.
Immensely successful companies can become myopic and product oriented instead of focusing on
consumers’ needs. Kodak’s story of failing has its roots in its success, which made it resistant to
change. Its insular corporate culture believed that its strength was in its brand and marketing, and it
underestimated the threat of digital.

Kodak did not fail because it missed the digital age. It actually invented the first digital camera in
1975. However, instead of marketing the new technology, the company held back for fear of hurting
its lucrative film business, even after digital products were reshaping the market.

Unfortunately, the company had the nearsighted view that it was in the film business instead of the
story telling business, and it believed that it could protect its massive share of market with its
marketing. Kodak thought that its new digital technology would cannibalize its film
business. Sony and Canon saw an opening and charged ahead with their digital cameras. When
Kodak decided to get in the game it was too late. The company saw its market share decline, as digital
imaging became dominant.
This blind faith in marketing’s ability to overcome the threat from the new technology proved fatal.
Kodak failed to adapt to a new marketplace and new consumer attitudes.
The essence of marketing is asking first, “what business are we in?” and not “how do we sell more
products?” Had early 20th Century railroad executives seen themselves as being in the transportation
business rather than the railroad business, or had Hollywood moguls in the 1940s understood that they
are in the entertainment business, not just the movie business, their industries wouldn’t have been
decimated by air travel and TV shows, respectively.
Kodak made a classic mistake: it didn’t ask the right question. It focused on selling more product,
instead of the business that it was in, storytelling.
What’s the lesson to other companies on how to avoid Kodak’s fate?
Companies have to adapt to the requirements of the market, even if that means competing with
themselves. Technology has the potential to be disruptive of markets and companies, at the same time
that it is benefiting consumers. Survival is not a likely strategy in today's marketplace. In this
environment, marketers should strive for entrepreneurial greatness and innovation, not to just
determine preference among existing options.
Marketing is not the art of selling products, as Kodak thought. Smart marketing is about providing a
company’s customer base value satisfaction. In short, marketing is tasked with keeping the company
relevant to their customers’ needs. In an age in which the consumer is in charge, approaching
marketing from the perspective of products or services alone is not enough to make consumers want to
engage.