SPI (2011) notes that Eastman Kodak Company, or Kodak, is an imaging solutions provider. The company offers many strengths; these include the brand name. Kodak is well-known in the imaging technology industry. Kodak offers photographic a graphic communication products and is well-established in this market having offered products for many years. Further, the product line offered by the company includes digital picture frames, consumer inkjet printers, scanners, specialty chemicals, and much in the way of media, hardware products, workflow software, and document scanning (SPI, 2011, p. 3).
Presently Kodak operates through two segments, the consumer and commercial segments spanning multiple continents. Each segment has their own appeal and focus, providing Kodak an opportunity to gain valuable clients and income from different products within the market. These include the U.S., Europe, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific (SPI, 2011). Kodak is positioned to market to adults that are active, busy and want to share data about their lives. Thus, their products are created in a way that allows customers to store photos, digital media, create keepsakes, and compete better than other competitors including Nikon, Fujifilm and Canon (BusinessWeek, 2015). In the commercial segment, Kodak is positioned to offer similar features on a wider scale, and offer businesses, including small business, the opportunity to store information and presentations using various digital media and presentation tools.
Weaknesses include Kodak’s inability to offer distinguishing benefits to the consumers it serves. The company works consistently to position itself as a provider of user-friendly products, although the company offers products whose names include words suggesting the use of its products are easy (SPI, 2011). Examples include the Kodak Easy Share digital camera doesn’t have many features and attributes that appeal to consumers that are seeking a products that are more user-friendly (Business Wire, 2007). Further, some of the products may be seen as cumbersome. Products must be developed in an increasingly competitive environment.
Opportunities
Technology continues to evolve. Kodak has the opportunity to develop products in an increasingly digital friendly and technology-friendly environment. Kodak can take advantage of digital technology and other mediums, including social media, to survey consumers and determine what consumers want and need. In light of this, as the industry involves, Kodak can determine how it can best meet consumer needs and restructure its product offerings to remain competitive in an ever-changing market.
Kodak currently offers many products that do not necessarily deliver on promised benefits. For example, many of the products that Kodak currently offer promise user-friendly features. Despite this, some of the products with this label lack built-in networking ability or other features that would help consumers enjoy greater operating capability (Market Publishers, 2015). As a result, Kodak faces competition from other competitors in the same industry that have taken advantage of newer technology to create products that help consumers realize their wants and needs.
Kodak will need to continue to develop products at a rapidly increasingly pace, as the environment it operates in is increasingly competitive. A research and development team that is abreast of market changes can help the company stay on top of the competition. Kodak generally offers products that are priced below many of its competitors, including Canon, Nikon, and Fujifilm (Market Publishers, 2015). If Kodak can do this, while also offering new product lines, it may stay ahead of the competition. The key to Kodak’s success in the future will be to offer premium products while attaching these products to its target consumer. Kodak will have to find a way to work around product deficits, to meet the needs of consumers. It may reduce overhead expenses by using new tools, including social media, to market and advertise to consumers without increasing overhead expenses.
