Hi,
Firstly, Happy New Year!
Secondly, I think I should say something about this very historic and storied enterprise — Kodak. I have dug up some key events from its history and I think they are worth pondering.
•1975
–Invents first digital camera, but does not bring to market. Fears cannibalizing film. Has 95% market share in U.S. film.
•1984
–Declines to sponsor LA Olympics. Low cost Fuji wins contract.
•1994
–Introduces QuickTake digital camera. Sold through Apple
•1997
–Fuji has 17% market share of U.S. film
•2005
–Kodak ranks #1 in U.S. digital camera sales $5.7 B. But, severe undercutting by Asian low cost manufacturers and several new entrants into the U.S. Kodak loses $60 on every digital camera sold.
•2006
–Kodak outsources manufacturing of digital cameras to Asia. First time outsourcing in its history.
•2007
–falls to #4 in U.S. digital camera sales.
•2010
–falls to #5 in U.S. with 7% market share. Tries to sell a lot of its patents to survive (hoping it will have a windfall like Nortel Networks).
•2012
–Contemplates bankruptcy
Some observations:
Invention is not innovation.
If you don’t cannibalize your own product, someone else will.
New technologies take a long time to have an impact in the market.
Reminds me of Xerox PARC.
Here are some questions to think about:
What role does invention play in innovation?
Should we place more emphasis on invention or innovation?
How can creators of new technologies capitalize on them?
What prevents creators of new technologies to build business models around them?
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