Managing the Disruptive and Sustaining the Disrupted: The Case of Kodak and Fujifilm in the Face of Digital Disruption

Abstract

Valuable lessons can be learned from the comparison between Kodak and Fujifilm in terms of how the two companies confronted the digital disruption, with one failing and the other thriving. Through a series of theoretical propositions rooted in literature and tested with case studies on Kodak and Fujifilm, this article suggests a systematic way for incumbent firms to navigate technological disruptions. A disruptive technological change does not necessarily render all technological competences embedded in the firm's products obsolete. Further, a competence disrupted in the home market does not have to be abandoned. By analyzing a firm's technological system and closely studying its innovation capability, an incumbent can nurture certain technological competences and diversify into new fields where such competences are valued and can distinguish the firm from its competitors. The challenge lies in a timely redefining of the firm's core business and restructuring the organization to ensure consistent execution of the strategies.

Norges oljedilemma etter Glasgow: Et umoralsk argument for et raskt grønt skifte

“…For å ta et berømt eksempel: I 1990-årene hadde Kodak et lukrativt globalt monopol på salg av kameraer og film. Fordi selskapet valgte å maksimere kortsiktig lønnsomhet og var treg med å investere i nye digitale teknologier, kollapset imidlertid lønnsomheten i løpet av et tiår til en brøkdel av sitt tidligere nivå (Ho & Chen, 2018). Dette var ikke på grunn av markedssvikt, men et tilfelle der markedet fungerte perfekt.…”

Exploring Tampering : Towards an Understanding of Why Improvement Efforts Sometimes Fail

“…Ever-increasing competition together with increasing and changing customer demands place significant pressure on organisations to maintain and improve current products and services, as well as developing and renewing their offerings (Benner and Tushman, 2003;Ng et al, 2015). Organisations' success and survival have been shown to depend on this ability (Deming, 1993;Woodruff, 1997), since failure to fulfil customers' needs has been the downfall even of world-leading companies (Ho and Chen, 2018). Efforts to improve the quality of products and services from the customer's perspective is thus a central issue for organisations.…”

Managing exploration persistency in ambidextrous organizations

“…For example, Kodama and Shibata (2016) proposed the concept of knowledge convergence through boundary vision from an in-depth case study of Fujifilm. Also, based on comparative case studies of Fujifilm and Kodak, Ho and Chen (2018) suggested there was a systematic way for incumbent firms to navigate technological disruption. They showed that disruptive technological change does not necessarily render all technological competences embedded in a firm's products obsolete.…”