18/02/2024
Kodak is often used as a case study of what happens if you don’t keep up with technology.
Except… they didn’t fail because of technology.
Kodak didn’t ‘miss’ digital photography.
They invented the first digital camera.
Kodak didn’t ‘miss’ the internet.
They bought a popular online photo sharing site a decade before Instagram was even an idea.
Kodak's problem wasn’t technology... it was their highly profitable physical film.
The irony is that this giant, like many others, failed because their core business model was too strong.
They *had* the new technology ready.
… but they didn’t invest sufficiently behind the new business models because they put their core profitability at risk.
The real lesson from Kodak’s downfall is that sometimes your existing business model is your biggest threat.
This is the critical point so many businesses still miss today, almost three decades after the late Clayton Christensen first coined the term ‘Innovator’s Dilemma’ to describe this exact challenge.
For innovation to succeed, you often have to be willing to compete with your core business.
