Kodak Digital Imaging Strategy

Introduction Eastman Kodak is one of the largest film camera producers in the world which found by George Eastman in New York, 1880. Within the century, Kodak quickly became a household name and its photo-finishing process became the industry standard. With the advent of digital technology in 1980s, Kodak faced a challenge in digital transform development, and it experienced a sharp decrease in its market share and sales between 1980 and 2003. They began to make a statement that "Digital photography is a fad." In this case analysis, we will first discuss Kodak’s corporation level strategy; second, we discuss Kodak’s business level strategy in digital product development. Last, we provide recommendations for turning around Kodak’s digital imaging business.
Corporation Strategy
 Diversification in Medical and Commercial sector
Between 1983 and 1993, Kodak adopted unrelated diversification strategy by expanding its business in health care and chemical industry with high profit potential. During that decade, Kodak acquired several pharmaceutical and bioscience companies, it also expanded its range of medical imaging products. This strategy could bring Kodak extra market share and expand its business into different sectors, which can enhance its brand awareness and lower its risk. However, those acquisitions didn’t produce the anticipated returns and caused a decrease in Kodak’s film market share. The growth in its core photo business declined significantly, furthermore, there was increasing amount of competitors offered cheaper products to compete with Kodak. Therefore, retailers shifted to other cheaper private labels like Fuji, which contributed to Kodak’s sharp decline share of the film market between 1983 and 1993.
 Diversification in Digital Imaging sector
At the same time, Kodak adopted related diversification strategy in exploration of digital imaging sector. In 1980s, Kodak president Kay Whitmore decided to change its vertical integration by