Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/06/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]This is not about Leicas, but is about film, Kodak, Fuji, and what is going on this week between the 2 giant film companies. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ There is an extraordinary struggle of herculean proportions in the works as Kodak decided to no longer roll over and play dead in its decades-long fight for a place in the Japan film market. Simply stated, Kodak, the worldıs giant photographic film firm, has only about 7% of the Japanese film market. It claims the reasons are unfair trade practices that make it almost impossible for Kodak or any other company to fairly compete in Japan when there is a Japanese competitor. If any of you have either been in Japan and watched it work or talked with a businessman with experience in selling products inside Japan when there is a Japanese company that does not want you there, this is an old and familiar story. The aspect of this that is so intriguing is that the rise of corporate Japan after WWII largely rests on the willingness of the US to let its products enter with few or no restrictions, products that to a large extent were built in factories financed by US aid after the war. Japanıs toll on US auto makers and the US electronic and photographic industries is well known. But Japan does want the same free competition inside Japan that is enjoys and even insists on worldwide. I bring this up today because of a pair of related pieces in the Washington Post Tuesday and today. Tuesday Fuji paid for a full page ad in the Post claiming that Kodak failed to get key products to the market fast enough. It continued by saying Fuji had single-use cameras 2 years earlier and hi-res ISO 400 film 2 years earlier than Kodak. And that, Fuji claims, is why Kodak doesnıt do well in Japan. I guess the fact that Fuji copied the Ektachromes and E-6 processing so thoroughly that its films can be used interchangeably at labs does not enter the equation here. Or that its color negative films are copied to be totally compatible in Kodakıs negative chemistry. What kind of a competitive edge might Fuji expect if it had to start from scratch and actually invent or do the necessary R&D work to perfect systems of its own? I suppose the bottom line is that Fuji can compete very well if it gets its compliant government to restrict Kodakıs access to Japanıs market. The result of all these prejudiced actions is that Japanese consumers pay exhorbitant prices for almost everything. Fuji film sells for less in NYC after the boat trip and the extra handling and US profits than it costs in Tokyo. After all, you can charge almost anything if your government protects you in the market. The second Washington Post piece was published today. Instead of making its case against Japanıs restrictive trade policies with sanctions (as it threatened last summer with Japanese luxury cars), the Clinton administration announced yesterday it would not impose sanctions but would instead would take the Kodak case to the World Trade Association in Geneva. So much for a firm policy. Kodak should look for support elsewhere. Fred Ward