Kodak and Fujifilm Essay

Growing up in a family that loves taking pictures and capturing moments. Kodak and Fujifilm played a huge role and are known companies to me and to many other households around the world. When it comes to the history and the competition few people know. The difference in management strategies plays a key role in the way the two companies’ embraced innovation. Complacency and slow adaptation dominated in Kodak Company while Fujifilm embraced innovation spirit and diversified in all aspects to ensure market relevance. Each of the company’s approach to ethics and social responsibility clearly reflects in both company’s profitability. With an aim to give back to the community and exercise ethical practices, production standards were maintained that satisfied consumers on both ends. A possible change of decision-making process that could embrace flexibility would be the best way to ensure diversity and innovation in any organization History George Eastman who was the founder of Kodak built a foundation of business on four basic principles: mass production at low cost international distribution, extensive advertising and focus on the customer at the age of fourteen he had to quit school and work to support his mother and two sisters. He took a job as an insurance messenger boy and was paying $3.00 a week. In 1874 at the age of 20 he became a junior clerk at the Rochester Saving Bank were there his salary tripled to $15.00 a week. In 1878 when Eastman took a trip to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic one of his  colleague that he record the trip. Eastman had fascination about the complicated with the compelling activity of photography. In 1879 Eastman invented an effective dry – plate formula and the machine that coat the plates in large numbers. By April 1880 he leased a small office in a building on State Street in Rochester, NY and began to manufacture dry plates. Henry A. Strong a local businessman investor and in 1881 Eastman resigned from the bank and Strong and him founded Eastman Dry Plate Company. The company did have a mishap that almost shut down the company when the dry plates that they sold went bad. Eastman came up with a quick solution to recall all of the bad plates and to replace them with good ones. In 1888 the Kodak came debuted the slogan stated â€Å"You press the button, we do the rest†. Kodak made the process of taking pictures and developing easy and accessible for everyone. In 1889 celluloid replaced paper film in the camera, and then by 1891 a factory was open in factory in Harrow in north London. The Brownie camera was introduced in 1900 which was named after the famous cartoon. In1925 Eastman retires at the age of 78 in 1932 he committed suicide . In 1930 Eastman Kodak Company launched on Dow Jones Industrial Average Index where in remain for the next 74 years. Throughout history Kodak has been used to capture historic moments such as Apollo 11 in 1969. Kodak was the first company in 1975 to build an actual working digital camera. By 2004 Kodak stop selling camera with film to increase popular digital alternatives. When CEO Antonio Perez took over in 2005 Kodak was the largest seller of digital camera in the U.S. revenue .By 2007 they fallen to fourth place and by 2010 was seventh place. By2011 Kodak’s shares fell more than 80% and has struggled to maintain market share and they were hit a huge pension costs for workers. With the changes in new technology Kodak was not prepare well. The company decided in 2012 to file bankruptcy protection. The company has worked out a credit plan with Citigrioup for 950 million to keep it afloat. History Fujifilm, formerly registered as Fujifilm Photo Film Co., Ltd. was started in 1934. They became established in the U.S. in 1965. Its core business much or less reflected the businesses that made Kodak prosper in the US:  photography and imaging. The company monopolized the Japanese market, ranked second placed in photography film usage after the US. Its ambitious management ventured overseas in the mid-90s without a fear of the already established Kodak. Despite its slow growth in the overseas markets, Fujifilm developed production bases outside its hub. A joint venture with Rank Xerox, a U.K based Limited company, strengthened Fujifilm’s position in the global market. A breakthrough was imminent in 1984’s Olympics held in Los Angeles which is Kodak’s home turf. Gradually, Fujifilm started eating into Kodak’s shares in the US due to near-equal products that were cheaper and actively marketed Fujifilm’s core businesses diversified faster with realization of looming transition by the management. Its imaging domain not only focused on personal, family and media moments but also diversified in the health sector. Its main businesses include film, photographic color paper, photographic equipment, medical equipment that included X-rays, and chemicals. More recently, Fujifilm’s early preparation to satisfy the fast-changing needs in the digital world ensured it widened its business scope to digital cameras, panel displays, printers, photocopiers and a variety of optical devices Management Approaches Kodak’s management approach on pursuing innovation by representing the latest innovation in the company’s consumer inkjet portfolio, marrying effortless connectivity with Kodak’s unique combination of high quality output and affordable ink. Kodak is committed to providing customers great value and lowest total ink replacement cost and exceptional cost per page. Fujifilm’s management approach on pursuing innovation by increasing a range of fields from imaging to medical systems. Fujifilm also became a much diversified company than Kodak by having a longer term vision in store and by investing a lot. Kodak’s Ethics and Social Responsibility Approaches Eastman Kodak Company is committed to operating in an environmental, ethical, and socially responsible manner. This commitment includes maintaining safe facilities and operations and providing goods which are safe and minimize environmental burdens throughout their business life cycle. Kodak’s Supplier  Standard sets an expectation for supplier health, safety, environmental, labor and ethical performances, and formalizes expectations in which they have always asked suppliers to commit to. In 2004 Kodak were praised in the â€Å"Business Ethics† magazine for anti-discrimination policies for gay, bisexual, and transgender employees. Kodak also believed in fair treatment of minorities and women and overall their employees. For years, Kodak has played a key role of social responsibility in Rochester, New York, where the headquarter is located. Charitable donations were for years made to the symphony hall and the orchestra club hosted at the same venue. This act paid off as the company maintained its customer and got even more customer for the way it gave back to the community. Further, tax abatements were considered for the company in its role of contributing huge sums to a community project. Kodak had given the drive of the donations where it is in favor of the shareholders’ interests. Acting otherwise rather than in the best interest of the company’s shareholders to increase their wealth and create good faith with the population would be deemed unethical by all measures. Quality products produced by the company were a result of an honest recruitment process. The company ensured it only recruited the best talent to ensure maintenance of quality assurance. The process involved was undeniably ethical and in a big part contributed to the profitability of the company. Kodak’s single-use recycling program ensured that over 70 million pounds of waste was avoided. This promoted Kodak’s image as an environmental friendly company, as well as ensured that it saved resources from having to acquire new raw material for manufacturing. Fujifilm’s Ethics and Social Responsibility Approaches Fujifilm holds in high esteem the ethical and social responsibilities it is obligated to provide. In 2004, the company formed action standards of ethical and social responsibility values the company had to comply. This was inclusive of all affiliates of the company, especially the double venture of Fuji Xerox. The guidelines have since been observed by every employee, uplifting the work standards and thus providing efficiency that translates  to profitability. . The company has formed an Ethics and Compliance hierarchy that is aimed at promoting ethical and corporate social responsibilities. Fujifilm believes compliance includes acting correctly in the light sense of common sense and ethics. Fujifilm compliance statements are in all aspects of their corporate activities they emphasize compliance and endeavor to create new value. If compliance requirements conflict with business profits or the demands of third parties, they give priority to compliance. An open, fair and clear corporate culture is the basis for all their activities Kodak and Fujifilm Adapting to Changing Market Conditions Kodak management failed to a new marketplace and new consumer attitudes, they focused on selling new product thinking that its new digital technology would cannibalize its film business. Instead of marketing the new technology the company held back from fear of hurting their film business. Most of Kodak’s strength was its brand and marketing, they began to fail when they underestimated the threat of the digital. Fujifilm management were prepared more to adapting to the changing in market, they realized that there was a need for them to develop an in-house expertise within new businesses. Fujifilm also focused on applying its technologies to new areas for instance today, Fujifilm has a medical imaging equipment business in which is growing quickly. Openness: A company with a management open to the democratic perspectives of other employees and customers is one of the best ways to adapt flexibility in the decision-making process. Openness will allow free flow and exchange of ideas, information, tasks and new perceptions of various processes (Sharfman & Dean, 1997). Recursiveness: This is a term used to define the repetitive process of formulation and implementation. Feedback is a significant part of this model as the decision-making team will always rely on the feedback, negative or positive to refine their decisions. This method goes against the perfect decision making hierarchy of problem definition, followed by search, analysis and eventually choice and implementation (Sharfman & Dean, 1997). Globalizing R&D: This is a model that would delocalize the centrality of r esearch and development. This would eventually increase the scope of decision makers’   perception. Limiting research to an area reduces the chance to get global feedback especially if a brand aims at conquering global markets. Companies today should build flexibility to back up its decision-making process in order to adapt to changing market conditions by these three recommendations: 1. Have an enterprise mindset that will be open to change. 2. Be able to adapt the company’s design to changing conditions. 3. Make decisions interactively using a variety of method.