George Eastman started the Eastman Kodak Company in 1889, and it was a huge success in the following years, if not the century. For almost a century, this name has dominated the market for democratizing photography. Kodak revolutionized photography by allowing everyone to take images with just a single click. Kodachrome, the first colored film used in still photography and cinematography, was introduced by Kodak in 1935, just before World War II.

Kodak's sales surpassed $1 billion in 1962. The next year, Kodak introduced Instamatic, which went on to sell more than 50 million cameras in its first seven years. Kodak's sales reached $3 billion in 1972. Steve Sasson, a Kodak engineer, invented the digital camera in 1975. By 1976, Kodak cameras had an 85 percent market dominance and Kodak films had a 90 percent market share. By 1982, Kodak had surpassed $10 billion in sales, and no other brand could compete with it. However, the name was tainted when Fuji, a Japanese company, joined the market in 1984 with a 20 percent cheaper color film. Kodak's sales continuously dropped from 1991 to 2011, until the company declared bankruptcy in 2012.

Kodak's business strategy was based on the razors and blades concept, which entails selling a low-cost item in order to increase the sale of a complementing one. Consumers would utilize a Kodak camera to take photos, which would then be delivered to the Kodak facility to be printed. Kodak's main products were film and printing, not cameras. As a result of the strong wind of digitization blowing in the twenty-first century, Kodachrome sales were halted in 2006.

The move seemed sensible, given the growing popularity of digital photo sharing and storage. In the 1980s, Kodak became concerned about impending digitization and began focusing on printing. It began producing pricey printers and less expensive inks, while its competitors focused on expensive inks. "It appears Kodak has created antibodies against anything that would compete with the film," Bill Lloyd, Kodak's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), remarked in an interview with the New York Times.

The rise of the digital camera was recognized by Kodak, but the social media explosion was not. The transition from digital to social came so quickly that Kodak was unprepared to keep up with the new wave. The smartphone was the elephant in the room, not the digital camera. Smartphones gradually began to supplant cameras, putting not only Kodak but all camera manufacturers, in direct competition.

Printing pictures has become redundant as users want to share and store images on digital platforms such as social media sites. In order to persuade more people to print digital photographs, Kodak launched the Ofoto website in 2001 in an attempt to reach the target audience. If Kodak had thought of photo-sharing in the same way that Instagram did, it might have avoided the downward spiral. In 2004, just three years after its introduction, Facebook became the most popular social networking site. When Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012, Facebook paid $1 billion for Instagram.

From a broad perspective, the causes for Kodak's failure, like all other commercial initiatives, can be boiled down to two fundamental aspects. To begin with, Kodak failed to re-emerge and re-invent technology. With the introduction of the digital camera, Kodak got off on the right foot, but somewhere in the middle went wrong. The inventor Steve Sasson described how he was shushed in an interview with the New York Times, with management's answer being "that's cute - but don't tell anyone about it." Kodak spent billions on digital cameras, but it stuck to complicated printing techniques for a long period before embracing the simplicity of digital procedures.

In contrast to Fuji, Kodak failed to modify its business methods as the times changed. Fuji, on the other hand, looked into new commercial options such as videotapes and magnetic tape optics, as well as office automation. Fuji joined forces with Xerox in a joint venture. Fuji has a revenue of over $20 billion and is thriving in the healthcare, electronics, and other document solutions sectors. Fuji was able to accept and adapt to changing circumstances. However, in this new era of digitization, globalization, and automation, Kodak failed to reinvent itself.

Second, the name was doomed due to complacency and deadly conceit in obtaining ultimate triumph. Kodak's narrative reminded me of Icarus, who soared further near the sun, disobeyed his father's warning, and met his demise. The earlier culture of welcome and creativity faded, giving rise to inflexible and non-cooperative business practices as a result of complacency. The owners and management, like Nokia, must treat their staff with respect.

Employees were buried under hierarchical pressure, and their views went disregarded, resulting in a future disaster. "With the complacency so rock-solid, and no one at the top even focusing their efforts toward turning that problem into a great urgency around a huge opportunity, of course, they went nowhere," according to Forbes' expert analysis. Strategy talks with the BIG CEO, of course, were fruitless. Of course, all the folks buried in the hierarchy who saw the problems coming and had remedies to provide made little progress. They were neglected by their superiors and peers."

Kodak was given a ten-year window before digitalization. However, it was hesitant to adopt a holistic approach to rapid transformation. Kodak went bankrupt due to a sluggish response to the advent of digital photography, a reluctance to move away from the film and printing sector, and a desire to flow against the transformational period. In a 1999 interview with the New York Times, George Fisher, the then-CEO of Kodak, said that "digital photography was the enemy, an evil juggernaut that would eliminate the chemical-based film and paper sector that had fuelled Kodak's sales and profits for decades." Instead of adjusting to the times like Fuji, it attempted to defy them and gained nothing.

The fledgling entrepreneurs and businesses can gain some significant lessons from the entire tragedy of the century-old name Kodak.

• Never go against the tide: At the turn of the century, when digitization and internet penetration was on the rise, Kodak was poised to take the lead. Before embarking on any company venture, it is critical to evaluate the changing era. If one follows Kodak's age-old norms and business practices, the target clients and their expectations are paramount...then God Save Them!

• Explore new avenues: Fuji did not limit itself to the printing and film industries. However, it looked into other possibilities that arose from the changing era. While Kodak failed to do so, and its arrogance led to its bankruptcy in 2012, Fuji has been hitting home runs all along, topping $20 billion in revenue. Time changes provide new opportunities, and the sooner one realizes this, the better.

• Communication must not be hampered by organizational hierarchies: The basis of corporate growth is a happy employee and a healthy, respected work environment. The CEOs' steadfast complacency drowned out the voices of innovation and change. The corporation even strayed from Eastman's founding principles of policy innovation and transformation.

This decade has seen many changes in market conditions, as well as the rise and demise of several businesses. The gig economy and solopreneurs are on the rise, and this competitive and congested market might be a hurdle for your expanding company. You wish to avoid making such errors, but who can help you? Although Google will provide you with hundreds of web pages, an expert will accompany you on your quest.

Do you want to speak with specialists in greater depth? To learn more about the diversified competitive market, contact our niche skilled experts today! We have an exclusive pool of experienced industry professionals and veterans at Vedak that have a thorough understanding of the business.