[Leica] Konica Minolta to quit photo market - now Kodak staying in film

[nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman)]

I know I am jumping into this a few days late, but what the heck...
I am sometimes amused about the way people here talk about Kodak, Fuji, 
Agfa etc. One could get the impression that we expect those entities to 
be charitable foundations dedicated to the preservation of traditional 
(i.e. chemical) photography and that their decisions to discontinue this 
or that product are all part of some sinister conspiracy directed at the 
photography community.

As Seth points out, Kodak is a commercial enterprise, as are the other 
companies. As such, it has to make money to stay in business. Kodak's 
management is responsible to shareholders, employees, customers and 
perhaps the larger community of Rochester. I am sure they would have 
loved to continue Kodachrome 25 and all those other wonderful products 
from the past. But the harsh reality is that the point came where sales 
had sunk so low that even variable costs of production were no longer 
covered by the revenues. Kodak's situation is made more difficult by the 
fact that it, like other large US old-line companies, is supporting 
legions of retirees and probably paying for their health care too. At 
the end of the day it is this kind of financial imperatives and not 
sentiments of product managers or a small minority of customers that 
must guide a company's decisions.

On a much smaller scale, I am the general manager of a small company 
with about 40 employees. My biggest responsibility is to make sure that 
those 40 people get paid every month. Emotional attachment has little 
relevance in that environment.

Nathan


Seth Rosner wrote:

> Don Dory wrote:
> 
> "Kodak is run largely by a group of executives that grew up when Kodak 
> did control the market and they can not seem to break out of that mindset."
> 
> Don, you could not be more wrong. Kodak today is run by Chairman and 
> Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez who came to Kodak as Chief 
> Operating Officer almost three years ago from a 25 year career with 
> Hewlett Packard. His entire background is digital.
> 
> Perez' immediate predecessor as CEO was Daniel Carp who joined Kodak in 
> that capacity in 1999. From Motorola, if memory serves me well. Robert 
> Brust, Chief Financial Officer, came to Kodak six years ago from Unisys 
> Corporation, a global information service & technology company and 
> before that was a lifer at General Electric.
> 
> Inasmuch as over seven years ago the Kodak Board had already identified 
> the impending shift to digital and an inevitable decline in world-wide 
> film sales, Carp was hired precisely to carry out the implementation of 
> an enormous effort to expand Kodak's digital and other businesses (e.g. 
> health and dental care) to a point where digital and other business 
> sales would compensate for the silver halide decline.
> 
> Having served as a deck offficer on U.S.S. Intrepid and stood thousands 
> of hours on watch as an OOD underway, I know first hand about kinetic 
> inertia and the energy required and the slow reaction time to turn an 
> aircraft carrier. Turning a goliath like Kodak in a new direction 
> without capsizing the ship - i.e. going bankrupt - is analagous.
> 
> At my request Kodak sent representatives to the last two LHSA annual 
> meetings ('04 & '05). Both made very thorough, interesting and 
> persuasive presentations describing Kodak's efforts and plans in digital 
> and film technology. Of course they acknowledged the decline in film 
> sales but emphasized that Kodak was not leaving the film business and, 
> in fact, showed newly developed film emulsions. They also donated five 
> rolls of film, two color (slide and negative), two b+w (Tri-X and 400TCN 
> - not sure I have the current nomenclature but yuou know which I mean) 
> and a roll of infra-red film, for each LHSA member attending. That's 750 
> rolls of film. And please don't tell me they gave it away because they 
> can't sell it!   ;-)
> 
> Is Kodak going digital? Of course. They want the Company to stay in 
> business. Are they quitting film. In my jaundiced opinion, not in your 
> lifetime, may it be long and full of health.
> 
> It may be convenient and even feel good to beat up on the old yellow 
> box. But get the facts straight and stop indulging in myth. Interested 
> Luggers should take a look at Kodak's website, click on 
> corporate/investor center/executive biographies and see the actual 
> backgrounds of the people who are running Kodak today. Including how 
> many are responsible for film as well as digital.
> 
> Respectfully,
> 
> Seth
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 

-- 
Nathan Wajsman
Almere, The Netherlands

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