The Rise and Fall of Eastman Kodak: How Long Will It Survive Beyond 2011 - Case Study Example

Kodak continued to improve its products and 1929; it took to Hollywood where it released first motion picture film. This rapid development was seen further in 1935 Kodak launched its Kodachrome film which made it to be the first commercially successful amateur color film. Advancements did not end here because Kodak launched a new inexpensive Brownie 8mm movie camera in 1951, then followed by the movie projector in 1952 (eM Publications 8). In addition to continued innovation and development, Kodak was a major source of employment to many people across the world.

This was proved by the fact that its workforce had reached 75,000 people in 1962 and had US merged sales that were over $1 billion for the first time. Everything was well for Kodak that was dealing specifically with cameras by then. eM Publications (14) asserts that during those early days, Kodak had achieved a lot of success a fact that led it to dominate market not only in US, but also in many parts of Europe and world at large. For instance, it had introduced for the first time the well-liked easy-to-use Instamatic cameras with cartridge-loading film.

Furthermore, a Kodak camera was used in 1969 by US astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission to film the lunar soil from only inches away. It also developed instamatic cameras that that were very fame to the extent that it led Kodak to release five new pocket-sized ones that use smaller cartridges. According to eM Publications (22), Kodak also made a significant moment in the evolution of film in 1975 when it invented the first digital camera. The sample is the size of about a toaster and it has capability of capturing black-and-white images at a resolution of .

01 megapixels. A Kodak executive, Larry Matteson, produced a report in 1979 that forecasted the switch from film to digital all by the year 2010, he approximately five years off. However, he was still pretty exactly right in his prediction. Even though Kodak enjoyed long period of market dominance and innovation, mid-to-late 1990s was the beginning of the end of Kodak. While Kodak sat back doing nothing much, it was during this period when sales of digital cameras increased, competitors aimed at improving the digital prospect of the camera.

Film started to become thing of the past gradually. Kodak also started to copyright a lot of technology used in current cell phone and digital cameras. Kodak failed to actually market to a youth-driven customer who can make r break a product as apple has experienced (eM Publications 26). eM Publications (29) states that in early 2000s, Kodak struggled to make money in other markets like drugs to chemicals, with film sales down but it was not successful. Kodak introduced its Easyshare printer dock 6000 that printed long-lasting, boarderless 4” x 6” prints in 2003.

Kodak faced many competitors since digital cameras have exploded in the industry. It appeared that other companies used and perfected the Easyshare’s easy-to-use idea instead of Kodak to build its success for better and newer products. Kodak focused on printers instead of trying to make cell phones using their patents. In 2004, Kodak was removed from the Dow Jones; it started its digital revolution years too late and cut thousands of jobs and factories. This was the wake-u call that they required a few years before then.

In spite of Kodak’