NAME: Sanjeev

REG. NO.: 19BEC0181

FACULTY: Jayaram Reddy A
SLOT: TG1
COURSE: Lean Start-up Management

Kodak : A bankruptcy Case Study

Abstract:
George Eastman founded the "Eastman Kodak Company" in 1888. It is now called Kodak. In the 20th century, it
was the most famous name in photography and videography.Thanks to Kodak, the photo and video industry has
been transformed. At a time when only large corporations had access to cameras for filming, Kodak made
cameras accessible to every home by creating lightweight and inexpensive devices.

Throughout the 20th century, Kodak was an industry leader. However, a series of poor decisions led to Kodak's
demise. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Why did Kodak, a pioneer of photography and filmmaking, file
for bankruptcy? What caused Kodak's downfall and why? Why did Kodak fail when it was the most famous brand
of its time? ? A case study offers the same solution.

Failure :
Kodak has a long history of unprecedented global success. In the field of photography, by 1968 he had over 80%
share of the world market.

Razor & Blades was Kodak's business strategy. A key component of the razor blade business plan is the strategy
of selling razors at a loss first. After a customer buys a razor, they have to buy the consumable (in this case, the
razor blade) repeatedly, so it makes sense to sell the blade at a high profit margin. Kodak's strategy was to sell
cameras at competitive prices with low margins and charge more for consumables such as film, printing paper
and other accessories.

Thanks to this business strategy, Kodak was able to make big profits and become a money-making machine.

As technology advanced, films and printed sheets quickly lost their value. This happened since the digital camera
was developed in 1975. Kodak, on the other hand, downplayed the capabilities of digital cameras and chose to
do nothing. Did you know that Steven Sasson, who invented the digital camera, was working as an electrical
engineer for Kodak when he developed this technology? It's cute, but don't tell anyone.You can hurt yourself just
by doing this.

Kodak chose not to invest in digital cameras because the company's film and paper division was so lucrative at
the time. When these products were no longer needed for photo shoots, Kodak suffered huge losses and
eventually had to close the factories that made them. Later, a Japanese company called "Fujifilm" implemented
the concept on a large scale. Soon many other companies started making and selling digital cameras, leaving
Kodak far behind.

This was Kodak's first mistake. Kodak's decline was due to its lack of understanding of new technology and its
failure to adapt to changing market dynamics.

Causes of Kodak’s Failure:

Kodak abandoned its investment in digital cameras because the paper and film businesses were doing so well at
the time. Kodak suffered huge losses and had to close the factory that was producing these items that were no
longer needed for photography.
The idea was then widely implemented by a Japanese company called Fujifilm. Soon, various companies began
manufacturing and selling digital cameras, leaving Kodak far behind.

This was Kodak's first mistake. The cause of death was Kodak's inability to adapt to changing market dynamics
and its lack of knowledge about technological developments. Additionally, Kodak lost its debt capital at that time.
Moreover, people have found digital photography to be far superior to traditional film photography. The image
quality was inferior to film photography, but it was more affordable.

According to one publication, Kodak was lagging behind at the time due to a blind spot in new technology.
Kodak's marketing team struggled to convince management that the company's policies needed to change in
order to succeed. However, Kodak's Board of Trustees argued that the magazine reporter who made such
statements lacked the knowledge to support his claims and insisted on sticking to the outdated notion of relying
on film cameras. Did.

Kodak didn't realize that his past successful strategy had suddenly given up. Rapidly evolving technology and
market demands have rendered this concept useless. Funds that could have been used by Kodak to boost digital
sales of his cameras were instead spent on the acquisition of numerous small businesses.

By the time Kodak finally grasped the situation and started selling and manufacturing digital cameras, it was too
late. By this time, many big companies had already made a name for themselves, and Kodak was unable to keep
up.

In 2004, Kodak finally announced that it would stop selling traditional film cameras. This decision resulted in the
dismissal of one-fifth of his workforce at the time, or about 15,000 workers. Kodak lost his position in the S&P
500 index before 2011 officially began. Kodak's stock price fell to an all-time low of $0.54 per share in September
2011. During the year, the stock's value fell by more than half.

Kodak's plan for Bankruptcy Protection

By January 2012, Kodak had exhausted all assets and cash on hand. Kodak He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection on January 19, 2012, and a company restructuring took place. CITI Group offered Kodak $950 million
in his 18-month loan agreement.
The funding allowed Kodak to continue its work. Some of Kodak's businesses have been sold to other companies
to increase revenue. At the same time, Kodak decided to stop manufacturing and selling digital cameras and
retire from digital photography. That was to buy camera equipment and publish the photos.

To gain bankruptcy protection, Kodak was forced to sell several patents, including a digital imaging patent, for a
total of over $500 million. Kodak said the company exited his Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September
2013.

Is Kodak back ?
Kodak, one of the most famous ex-camera accessory makers, aims to cooperate with China's largest smartphone
maker, Oppo, on its upcoming flagship model. Rumor has it that the new smartphone will have two 50-megapixel
cameras and the cameras will be based on past Kodak versions.
Oppo's all-new flagship model pays homage to Kodak's iconic camera aesthetics. Rumor has it that this Oppo
model camera of his will use the Sony IMX766 50MP sensor. The phone's ultra-wide-angle camera also features a
13MP telephoto lens and his 3MP microscope camera, plus a large sensor. As of September 13, 2021, no
additional information is available for this topic.
There has been a long partnership between camera makers and Android OEMs. Yes, many other companies
already have partnerships with other camera manufacturers. Nokia launched the Nokia N95 camera phone in
2007 after collaborating with German optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss. This is the first time the smartphone
industry has experienced such a partnership. Ultimately, many other partnerships came to fruition with
surprising results. Partnerships worth mentioning include the OnePlus and Hasselblad partnership, the Huawei
and Leica partnership, and the recent news about the Samsung and Olympus partnership. Kodak has made big
strides in the smart TV market before and is now seeing success with this new move. In August 2020, Kodak TV
India officially opened its factory in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, with the aim of manufacturing low-cost Android smart
TVs for the Indian market. Hapur's fully automated TV manufacturing facility will be made possible by his over Rs
500 crore investment over the next three years by a well-known photography company. The Android certified
company is working on this strategy as part of its Make in India initiative. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's
Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, launched in the wake of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, seems to have made
Kodak's announcement even more lively. Most of the raw materials used in the Indian TV industry are imported,
with only 10-12% being value added products. However, the company wanted to increase the added value to
about 50-60% given the investment Kodak had promised. Hapur's R&D center supports the production of
technologically advanced commodities and introduces a wide range of additional manufacturing aspects in
keeping with the 'Made in India' ethos.