As a amateur and then professional photographer I found Polariod process to be a very unstable product. The cost of prints was even worse when factoring the high waste rate. Their many consumer camera models still clutter thrift shops. I respect your father's service and concerns for the company. It's too bad Polaroid never quite made it.
First of all,with the exception of several "niche" products that they made,Polaroid never thought of its products as "professional quality".Their market was the guy shooting his kids in the back yard,kinda like many of Kodak's most popular products of that era.
During the 50's,60's and 70's (my father's tenure),what they did,they did well.The technology was cutting edge,particularly the chemical engineering side of it. It's not a coincidence that their headquarters was within walking distance of both Harvard and MIT.My Dad had many,many MIT grads working for him in their hay day.
Read up on the history of the company,particularly its history during my Dad's tenure.Read up on their R&D department *and* their marketing department.
Polaroid never cured cancer.They never even made a truly professional grade camera or film.But it was a damn fine company that made products that many folks wanted over a four-plus decade period of time.