Running head: POLAROID 1

POLAROID: Missed Opportunities

Amber Carroll

Arizona State University

OGL 260 - Module 05

April 23, 2022

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POLAROID: Missed Opportunities

Polaroid was founded in nineteen thirty seven by Edwin H. Land. Land was the first

person to develop a camera that would produce a photo seconds after the click of a button instead

of waiting days for photos to develop in a darkroom; the first instant camera. The first Polaroid

was introduced to the public in nineteen forty three and was named Model 95, it sold out minutes

after launching and was deemed a huge success. The American Chemical Society, (2015) states,

“By 1957, the New York Times called instant photography “equal in tonal range and brilliance to

some of the finest prints made by the usual darkroom routine.” Polaroid Corporation grew

rapidly as instant photography exploded in popularity.” Because I was born right when this

company collapsed, I had no idea about the long history of Polaroid. Let me walk you through

the ups and downs of Polaroid and figure out where the company went wrong.

After their debut camera, the company had a hard time one upping competitors in a

timely manner. The next big product scheduled to come out was Polavision which was a

colorized video system. They started the product in the nineteen fifties but it didn’t release until

nineteen seventy eight. By this time there had already been video camcorders sold to the public.

Sales ended up being so slow that Polaroid pulled the product a year later. They wasted about

fifteen million dollars of invested money and nearly twenty years worth of time. This was the

last product produced before Land left the company the following year. After their founder left

the company's vision became even more blurred. They didn’t really strategize their products or

marketing in any particular way and became too focused on one area in the camera industry even

though technology and the rest of society was progressing to digital use. The executives were

practically betting the business on the fact that people would always want hard copy prints which
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in reality was untrue and became outdated fast. This tells us there was a clear lack of market

research and the use of any fundamental business models.

The company struggled to grow for a multitude of reasons. Perhaps things were too far

gone when the company was trying to be taken over by an Investor group in nineteen eighty

eight. Polaroid decided to buy back shares to create an employee stock ownership plan and

issued preferred stock. This led to them issuing bonds and going into debt. Because Polaroid

didn’t have any business models, they were slacking in so many areas they could have been

dominating in. ''They should have gotten into batteries or other cash-flow-predictable products

that are sold in the distribution channels they already used'' (Deutsch, 2001).

Kodak and Fujifilm were also producing instant film cameras which cut off Polaroid's

only leg, they really had no way of profitning because their debt was so massive. By two

thousand and one Polaroid had to file for bankruptcy. “In its filing, the company listed $1.81

billion in assets and $948.4 million in debts. It has $360 million in bank debt falling due on Nov.

15, and owes its bondholders about $575 million” (Duetsch, 2001). This goes to show how bad

of a job the company did with budgeting. It’s hard to be financially successful when there is no

vision or plan to get there. Keown, Martin, & Petty, (2020) state, “A key number in any

business's operations is the break even quantity or sales level. The break even level is key

because it tells the firm’s managers the minimum sales that are needed to pay the firm's short

term liabilities” (P.g. 429).

Polaroid will possibly never reach what could have been their fullest potential simply

because they’ve already been beat. But Polaroid does have something no other company can

claim, which is the infamous name, Polaroid. Nowadays Polaroids are highly longed for because

there’s nothing that compares to the vintage pop of the rainbow and other unique features of
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Polaroid photos. It’s a classic camera that provides a sense of nostalgia of the good ole days. In

twenty seventeen Polaroid was bought by the Smolokowski family. Since then the company has

made a bit of a comeback, but its chance at domination is long gone.

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References

Deutsch, C. H. (2001, October 13). Deep in debt since 1988, Polaroid files for bankruptcy. The

New York Times. Retrieved April 23, 2022, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/13/business/deep-in-debt-since-1988-polaroid-files-fo

r-bankruptcy.html?auth=link-dismiss-google1tap

Edwin Land and instant photography. American Chemical Society. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23,

2022, from

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/land-instant-ph

otography.html

Goretzka, D., & Goretzka, D. (2021, February 10). Polaroid Mania: Why instant film is now

all the rage. Study Breaks. Retrieved April 23, 2022, from

https://studybreaks.com/thoughts/polaroid-instant-film/

Hk. (n.d.). Polaroid: Commitment Issues led to a breakup with the camera industry. Digital

Innovation and Transformation. Retrieved April 23, 2022, from

https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/polaroid-commitment-issues-led-to-a-br

eakup-with-the-camera-industry/

Keown, A. J., Martin, J. D., & Petty, J. W. (2020). Foundations of Finance, (10th ed.).

New York, NY: Pearson.