damn shame... RIP
Posted on 10/03/2011 9:26:07 AM PDT by shortstop
Kodak is one of the worst companies for enforced political correctness in the whole United States. I've been boycotting them for years. It serves them right that in concentrating on political correctness, they've lost the competitive edge to allow them to develop industry leading digital imaging products to replace their silver halide technologies. They've been living off their old reputation and goodwill for too long.
Here's a link to a related thread.
Kodak shares plunge as bankruptcy fears escalate
YahooFinance ^ | Sep 30, 2011 | MICHAEL LIEDTK
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2787139/posts
Posted on 10/3/2011 10:48:51 AM by Daffynition
That actually made me tear up a bit.
damn shame... RIP
The company either did not see or ignored the threat of the disruptive technology that was digital photography. Polaroid made the same mistake.
He said they looked at him like he was crazy and ignored him from there.
I agree. I have done business with them for years. Never in my career have a seen a more broken corporate culture. Every meeting has a “Cast of Thousands” where no one wants to make a decision. People change positions like Musical Chairs, and there is no accountability along the way. Once Rochester’s great employer, now a mere remnant of the past.........
Buggy whips are gone now too. Future shock.
In the mid-80s my group was working with Kodak on a new product line. We were going to purchase the product. One day a hatchet man showed up with the Kodak development team. The message was “you fund our remaining development and purchase the product at an inflated price and these people won’t get laid off.” We didn’t bite.
I used Kodak slide film for years until I finally had to go with Fuji. Boy was Kodachrome a great product. I have color slides my Grandparents took from the mid 40’s that are so vibrant in color, you would have thought they were shot yesterday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZpaNJqF4po
I thought they had died a long time ago. I have not seen a roll of Verichrome Pan 127 roll film on the shelf in many years.
Look for an Obama Bailout.
ML/NJ
Hasselblad went to the moon.
This seems like a prime candidate for an Obama bail out. A mismanaged company in a dying industry in a reliably Democratic state.
Kodak copiers were a silly misadventure.
It’s double heartbreak to see *American institutions* that us *oldsters* grew up with, and enjoyed their products for years and years, fall to the dust heap of history. Not having followed them for years, since I went digital, is no excuse for me not knowing how bad they had become.
Guess they join my brief lament for some newspapers I once enjoyed, American cars, and Stanley Tools.
I don’t like where we are going. Do you hear that USA? Breaks my heart.
Kodak painted itself into a corner decades ago. They had one product and no competitive advantage in the market.
Google search for Kodak Political Correctness
I agree about the layers of useless management. I worked at a subsidiary called ATEX all through the 1980’s. Same mentality there until almost 1990. Absolutely clueless. An article about a 10% RIF appeared in the Boston Globe the morning before it happened. Upper management dismissed the report. Because, as they said, “it was only a 9% RIF”.
Hasselbald did not make film. BTW, I’ve been given tours of both Hasselbald in Goethenberg and a Kodak plant in Rochester. Hasselbald was a like a hobby shop, Kodak was a real manufacturing facility. In the day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.