The situation
In the 1990s, Kodak was the dominant global photography brand — film, paper, chemistry, and cameras. The firm had been one of the most valuable companies in the world. Annual revenue exceeded $13B. Brand recognition was nearly universal. Kodak had also invented the digital camera in 1975 (engineer Steven Sasson built the prototype), but had kept the technology suppressed to protect the lucrative film business.
What Kodak did
Kodak's strategic failure was choosing to defend film rather than disrupt itself with digital. Even as digital camera sales accelerated through the 1990s and 2000s, Kodak prioritized film and paper revenue. Late attempts at digital cameras (the EasyShare line) were market failures because Kodak still organized around film economics. Fujifilm, Kodak's historical competitor, faced the same disruption but pivoted earlier — diversifying into cosmetics, medical imaging, and pharmaceuticals using its chemistry expertise. Fujifilm survived and thrives; Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
The mechanics — step by step
- Invented digital camera in 1975 but suppressed it
- Continued investing in film as digital disrupted
- Late digital products organized around film economics
- Failed to diversify chemistry expertise into adjacent categories
- Fujifilm pivoted earlier and survived
- Bankruptcy 2012
Outcome and numbers
Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2012, sold most patents and brand assets, and emerged as a smaller specialty firm focused on commercial printing. Annual revenue of roughly $1B (down from $13B). The case is among the most-cited examples of marketing myopia in business history, regularly compared to Blockbuster's failure against Netflix.
Why this case is on every syllabus
Kodak is the canonical marketing-myopia case (Levitt 1960). It illustrates how firms fail when they define themselves by product (film) rather than customer need (captured memories). It is referenced in essentially every strategy and innovation course.
How to cite Kodak in a paper
Cite Kodak when discussing marketing myopia, disruptive innovation, incumbent failure, or the inability to disrupt one's own profitable business. Use the 1975 digital-camera invention and 2012 bankruptcy as bookend evidence.
Three takeaways students miss
- Defining business by product, not customer need, is fatal
- Inability to disrupt own profitable business is common
- Adjacent capability use (Fujifilm chemistry) can save firms in disrupted categories
- Late entry to a disrupted category rarely succeeds
- Brand value cannot save a structurally obsolete business model