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A Kodak Moment to Reconsider the Value of IT

  • Robert Plant

With Kodak balancing on the precipice, a classic case study on the company offers powerful lessons that still resonate 20 years after it was written. Lynda M. Applegate and Ramiro Montealegre’s “Eastman Kodak Co.,” as anyone who has taught the case knows well, is effective in stimulating students to debate the value of IT as […]

With Kodak balancing on the precipice , a classic case study on the company offers powerful lessons that still resonate 20 years after it was written. Lynda M. Applegate and Ramiro Montealegre’s “ Eastman Kodak Co. ,” as anyone who has taught the case knows well, is effective in stimulating students to debate the value of IT as a core or noncore activity. It helps students see that Kodak did not understand or invest in the digital technologies that were to sweep away its business, a failure usually attributed to incumbent executive myopia. But there’s an important issue that students often overlook when they study this case: Where was the voice of the IT group?

kodak case study harvard

  • Robert Plant is an associate professor of computer information systems at the University of Miami School of Business Administration. He can be reached on Twitter at @drrobertplant .

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The Real Lessons From Kodak’s Decline

Eastman Kodak is often mischaracterized as a company whose managers didn’t recognize soon enough that digital technology would decimate its traditional business. However, what really happened at Kodak is much more complicated — and instructive.

  • Leading Change
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  • Technology Innovation Strategy

Shih Kodak

Eastman Kodak Co. is often cited as an iconic example of a company that failed to grasp the significance of a technological transition that threatened its business. After decades of being an undisputed world leader in film photography, Kodak built the first digital camera back in 1975. But then, the story goes, the company couldn’t see the fundamental shift (in its particular case, from analog to digital technology) that was happening right under its nose.

The big problem with this version of events is that it’s wrong. Moreover, it obscures some important lessons that other companies can learn from. To begin with, senior leaders at Kodak were acutely aware of the approaching storm. I know because I arrived at Kodak from Silicon Valley in mid-1997, just as digital photography was taking off. Management was constantly tracking the rate at which digital media was replacing film. But several factors made it exceedingly difficult for Kodak to shift gears and emerge with a consumer franchise that would be sustainable over the long term. Not only was a major technological change upending our competitive landscape; challenges were also affecting the ecosystem we operated in and our organizational model. Ultimately, refocusing the business with so many forces in motion proved to be impossible.

A Difficult Technology Transition

Kodak’s first challenge had to do with technology. Over the course of more than a century, Kodak and a small number of its competitors had developed and refined manufacturing processes that enabled consumers to capture and preserve images for a lifetime. Color film was an extremely complex product to manufacture. The 60-inch “wide rolls” of plastic base material had to be coated with as many as 24 layers of sophisticated chemicals: photosensitizers, dyes, couplers, and other materials deposited at precise thicknesses while traveling at 300 feet per minute. Wide rolls had to be changed over and spliced continuously in real time; the coated film had to be cut to size and packaged — all in the dark. With film, the entry barriers were high. Only two competitors — Fujifilm and Agfa-Gevaert — had enough expertise and production scale to challenge Kodak seriously.

The transition from analog to digital imaging brought several challenges. First, digital imaging was based on a general-purpose semiconductor technology platform that had nothing to do with film manufacturing — it had its own scale and learning curves.

About the Author

Willy Shih is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Management Practice in Business Administration at Harvard Business School. From 1997 to 2003 he was a senior vice president at Eastman Kodak Co. and served as president of the company’s consumer digital business.

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Craig mcgowan, stephen waybright, giovanbattista testolin, karl schubert, arthur weiss, julian koor, victor yodaiken, john krienke, jeffrey hardy, butch cunnings, charles h. green.

Focus on past glory kept Kodak from digital win

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A Kodak Retina camera is seen in a photo store in London

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Musk, indonesian health minister, launch starlink for health sector.

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Teaching cases & active learning resources for public health education, case library.

The Harvard Chan Case Library is a collection of teaching cases with a public health focus, written by Harvard Chan faculty, case writers, and students, or in collaboration with other institutions and initiatives.

Use the filters at right to search the case library by subject, geography, health condition, and representation of diversity and identity to find cases to fit your teaching needs. Or browse the case collections below for our newest cases, cases available for free download, or cases with a focus on diversity. 

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Many of our cases are available for sale through Harvard Business Publishing in the  Harvard T.H. Chan case collection . Others are free to download through this website .

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Atkinson, M.K. , 2023. Organizational Resilience and Change at UMass Memorial , Harvard Business Publishing: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Available from Harvard Business Publishing Abstract The UMass Memorial Health Care (UMMHC or UMass) case is an examination of the impact of crisis or high uncertainty events on organizations. As a global pandemic unfolds, the case examines the ways in which UMMHC manages crisis and poses questions around organizational change and opportunity for growth after such major events. The case begins with a background of UMMHC, including problems the organization was up against before the pandemic, then transitions to the impact of crisis on UMMHC operations and its subsequent response, and concludes with challenges that the organization must grapple with in the months and years ahead. A crisis event can occur at any time for any organization. Organizational leaders must learn to manage stakeholders both inside and outside the organization throughout the duration of crisis and beyond. Additionally, organizational decision-makers must learn how to deal with existing weaknesses and problems the organization had before crisis took center stage, balancing those challenges with the need to respond to an emergency all the while not neglecting major existing problem points. This case is well-suited for courses on strategy determination and implementation, organizational behavior, and leadership.

The case describes the challenges facing Shlomit Schaal, MD, PhD, the newly appointed Chair of UMass Memorial Health Care’s Department of Ophthalmology. Dr. Schaal had come to UMass in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the summer of 2016 from the University of Louisville (KY) where she had a thriving clinical practice and active research lab, and was Director of the Retina Service. Before applying for the Chair position at UMass she had some initial concerns about the position but became fascinated by the opportunities it offered to grow a service that had historically been among the smallest and weakest programs in the UMass system and had experienced a rapid turnover in Chairs over the past few years. She also was excited to become one of a very small number of female Chairs of ophthalmology programs in the country. 

Dr. Schaal began her new position with ambitious plans and her usual high level of energy, but immediately ran into resistance from the faculty and staff of the department.  The case explores the steps she took, including implementing a LEAN approach in the department, and the leadership approaches she used to overcome that resistance and build support for the changes needed to grow and improve ophthalmology services at the medical center. 

This case describes efforts to promote racial equity in healthcare financing from the perspective of one public health organization, Community Care Cooperative (C3). C3 is a Medicaid Accountable Care Organization–i.e., an organization set up to manage payment from Medicaid, a public health insurance option for low-income people. The case describes C3’s approach to addressing racial equity from two vantage points: first, its programmatic efforts to channel financing into community health centers that serve large proportions of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), and second, its efforts to address racial equity within its own internal operations (e.g., through altering hiring and promotion processes). The case can be used to help students understand structural issues pertaining to race in healthcare delivery and financing, to introduce students to the basics of payment systems in healthcare, and/or to highlight how organizations can work internally to address racial equity.

Kerrissey, M.J. & Kuznetsova, M. , 2022. Killing the Pager at ZSFG , Harvard Business Publishing: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health case collection. Available from Harvard Business Publishing Abstract This case is about organizational change and technology. It follows the efforts of one physician as they try to move their department past using the pager, a device that persisted in American medicine despite having long been outdated by superior communication technology. The case reveals the complex organizational factors that have made this persistence possible, such as differing interdepartmental priorities, the perceived benefits of simple technology, and the potential drawbacks of applying typical continuous improvement approaches to technology change. Ultimately the physician in the case is not able to rid their department of the pager, despite pursuing a thorough continuous improvement effort and piloting a viable alternative; the case ends with the physician having an opportunity to try again and asks students to assess whether doing so is wise. The case can be used in class to help students apply the general concepts of organizational change to the particular context of technology, discuss the forces of stasis and change in medicine, and to familiarize students with the uses and limits of continuous improvement methods. 

Yatsko, P. & Koh, H. , 2021. Dr. Joan Reede and the Embedding of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Harvard Medical School , Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health case collection. Available from Harvard Business Publishing Abstract For more than 30 years, Dr. Joan Reede worked to increase the diversity of voices and viewpoints heard at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and at its affiliate teaching hospitals and institutes. Reede, HMS’s inaugural dean for Diversity and Community Partnership, as well as a professor and physician, conceived and launched more than 20 programs to improve the recruitment, retention, and promotion of individuals from racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in medicine (UiMs). These efforts have substantially diversified physician faculty at HMS and built pipelines for UiM talent into academic medicine and biosciences. Reede helped embed the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) not only into Harvard Medical School’s mission and community values, but also into the DEI agenda in academic medicine nationally. To do so, she found allies and formed enduring coalitions based on shared ownership. She bootstrapped and hustled for resources when few readily existed. And she persuaded skeptics by building programs using data-driven approaches. She also overcame discriminatory behaviors and other obstacles synonymous with being Black and female in American society. Strong core values and sense of purpose were keys to her resilience, as well as to her leadership in the ongoing effort to give historically marginalized groups greater voice in medicine and science.

Cases Available for Free Download

In February 2015, technical staff reviewed the results from a jointly conducted study on malaria control. This study had major implications for malaria in Zambia—and elsewhere. The preliminary analysis strongly suggested that the study’s Mass Drug Administration (MDA) strategy was reducing the incidence of malaria disease. In addition, MDA seemed to be driving down the infection reservoir among asymptomatic people in the study area of the Southern Province of Zambia. Further analysis with mathematical models indicated that if the intervention was sustained so current trends continued, then the MDA strategy would make it possible to eliminate malaria in the Southern Province. 

If malaria could be eliminated in one region of Zambia, that would provide new evidence and motivation to work towards elimination throughout the country, an ambitious goal. But it would not be easy to move from conducting one technical study in a single region to creating a national strategy for malaria elimination. The scientists realized that their new data and analyses—of malaria infections, mosquito populations, and community health worker activities—were not enough. A national malaria elimination effort would require mobilizing many partners, national and local leaders, and community members, and convincing them to get on board with this new approach. 

Teaching note available for faculty/instructors .

Holman, S.R. & Balsari, S. , 2017. Stampede at the Kumbh Mela: Preventable Accident? , Harvard University: Global Health Education and Learning Incubator. Access online Abstract This teaching case describes the fatal stampede in Allahabad, India during the 2013 Kumbh Mela festival, and the lessons it offers for thinking about global health risks and responses to unintentional accidents and injuries related to mass gatherings. The case is part of a teaching pack, “Accidents & Injuries: Lessons from a Stampede,” which also includes a companion instructor’s guide, discussion guide, role-play exercise, annotated bibliography, and glossary of terms. The case is suitable for undergraduate and graduate classes in the study of religion, humanitarian aid, public health, and emergency medicine with a focus on disaster management.

This case describes and explores the development of the first medical transitions clinic in Louisiana by a group of community members, health professionals, and students at Tulane Medical School in 2015.  The context surrounding health in metro New Orleans, the social and structural determinants of health, and mass incarceration and correctional health care are described in detail. The case elucidates why and how the Formerly Incarcerated Transitions (FIT) clinic was established, including the operationalization of the clinic and the challenges to providing healthcare to this population. The case describes the central role of medical students as case managers at the FIT clinic, and how community organizations were engaged in care provision and the development of the model.  The case concludes with a discussion of the importance of advocacy amongst health care professionals.

This teaching case study examines psychological trauma in a community context and the relevance, both positive and negative, of social determinants of health. Healthy People 2020 views people residing in communities with large-scale psychological trauma as an emerging issue in mental health and mental health disorders (Healthy People, 2016). The case study, which focuses on Newark, New Jersey, addresses three of the five key determinants of health: social and community context, health and health care, and neighborhood and built environment. The three key determinants are addressed using psychological trauma as an exemplar in the context of trauma-informed systems. The social and community context is addressed using concepts of social cohesion, civic participation, and discrimination. Access to health and health care are addressed with discussion of access to mental health and primary care services, health literacy, and the medical home model. Neighborhood and built environment are viewed through the lens of available government and NGO programs and resources to improve the physical environment with a focus on quality of housing, crime and violence, and environmental conditions. Upstream interventions designed to improve mental health and well-being that support trauma-informed systems are analyzed. The use of Newark as the case study setting allows a real-life exploration of each of these three key determinants of health.

This case study has four sections – introduction, case study, side bar, and vignettes. Learners should work through the case, access appropriate resources, and work in a team for successful completion.

In the aftermath of the atrocities endured by the Cambodian people, Friends-International (FI) was established in 1994 to address some of the many protection needs faced by the country’s marginalized children and youth. In the intervening quarter century, FI has grown substantially, both in the scope and complexity of its operations. The organization’s core mission consists of providing comprehensive, innovative, and high quality services to children, youth, and their families, based on a child rights-based approach that informs all of the organization’s programs. FI has established a strong and highly respected presence in Cambodia, building social services for children, operating effective social businesses , and initiating the global ChildSafe Movement. Over time , they have expanded their community-based model to multiple countries. But amidst their expansion, FI has continued to face financial insecurity and a constantly shifting landscape of challenging child protection concerns. At what point might they have been trying to do too much, possibly unduly stretching themselves across too many sectors and borders? Innovation had been a core strength of FI, but was it always appropriate to innovate? The case addresses these common problems.

Focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

On February 1, 2020, Jessie Gaeta, the chief medical officer for Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), received news that a student in Boston had tested positive for the novel coronavirus virus that causes COVID-19 disease. Since mid-January, Gaeta had been following reports of the mysterious virus that had been sickening people in China. Gaeta was concerned. Having worked for BHCHP for 18 years, she understood how vulnerable people experiencing homelessness were to infectious diseases. She knew that the nonprofit program, as the primary medical provider for Boston’s homeless population, would have to lead the city’s response for that marginalized community. She also knew that BHCHP, as the homeless community’s key medical advocate, not only needed to alert local government, shelters, hospitals, and other partners in the city’s homeless support network, but do so in a way that spurred action in time to prevent illness and death. 

The case study details how BHCHP’s nine-person incident command team quickly reorganized the program and built a detailed response, including drastically reducing traditional primary care services, ramping up telehealth, and redeploying and managing staff. It describes how the team worked with partners and quickly designed, staffed, and made operational three small alternative sites for homeless patients, despite numerous challenges. The case then ends with an unwelcome discovery: BHCHP’s first universal testing event at a large city shelter revealed that one-third of nearly 400 people there had contracted COVID-19, that most of the infected individuals did not report symptoms, and that other large city shelters were likely experiencing similar outbreaks. To understand how BHCHP and its partners subsequently popped up within a few days a 500-bed field hospital, which BHCHP managed and staffed for the next two months, see Boston Health Care for the Homeless (B): Disaster Medicine and the COVID-19 Pandemic.  

Guerra, I., et al. , 2019. SALUDos: Healthcare for Migrant Seasonal Farm Workers , Harvard University: Social Medicine Consortium. Download free of charge Abstract The SALUDos program began in 2008 as a response to an influx of migrant seasonal farm workers (MSFWs) at a mobile medical unit serving homeless persons in Santa Clara County in Northern California. The program offered patients free and low-cost primary care services, linkage to resources, and advocacy.  As the farm workers involved in this program became more involved in their primary care, they advocated for evening hours, transportation, linkage to coverage programs, and health education resources to better understand their medical and psychological conditions. During continual modifications of the SALUDos program, the team sought to understand and address large-scale social forces affecting migrant health through interventions to mitigate health inequities. Teaching note available for faculty/instructors.

Weinberger, E. , 2017. Coloring the Narrative: How to Use Storytelling to Create Social Change in Skin Tone Ideals , Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED). Download free of charge Abstract Many millions of people around the world experience the pervasive, and often painful, societal messages of colorism, where lighter skin tones are asserted to be more attractive and to reflect greater affluence, power, education, and social status. Even in places where the destructive effects of colorism are fairly well understood, far less is known about the problem of skin-lightening (really, it’s “skin bleaching”) creams and lotions, and the health risks that consumers assume with these products. In this teaching case, the protagonists are two women who have recently immigrated to the United States from Nigeria and Thailand, both with a life-time of experience with these products like many of the women of their home countries. As the story unfolds, they struggle along with the rest of the characters to copy with the push and pull of community norms vs. commercial influences and the challenge of promoting community health in the face of many societal and corporate obstacles. How can the deeply ingrained messages of colorism be effectively confronted and transformed to advance social change without alienating the community members we may most want to reach? Teaching note and supplemental slides available for faculty/instructors .

Jessie Gaeta, the chief medical officer for Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), learned on April 7, 2020 that the City of Boston needed BHCHP to design and staff in 48 hours one half of Boston Hope, a 1,000-bed field hospital for patients infected with COVID-19. The mysterious new coronavirus spreading around the world was now running rampant within BHCHP's highly vulnerable patient population: people experiencing homelessness in Boston. A nonprofit community health center, BHCHP for 35 years had been the primary care provider for Boston's homeless community. Over the preceding month, BHCHP's nine-person incident command team, spearheaded by Gaeta and CEO Barry Bock, had spent long hours reorganizing the program. (See Boston Health Care for the Homeless (A): Preparing for the COVID-19 Pandemic.) BHCHP leaders now confronted the most urgent challenge of their long medical careers. Without previous experience in large-scale disaster medicine, Gaeta and her colleagues had in short order to design and implement a disaster medicine model for COVID-19 that served the unique needs of people experiencing homelessness.

This case study recounts the decisive actions BHCHP leaders took to uncover unexpectedly widespread COVID-19 infection among Boston's homeless community in early April 2020. It details how they overcame their exhaustion to quickly design, staff, and operate the newly erected Boston Hope field hospital for the city's homeless COVID-19 patients. It then shows how they adjusted their disaster medicine model when faced with on-the-ground realities at Boston Hope regarding patients' psychological needs, limited English capabilities, substance use disorders, staff stress and burnout, and other issues.

Yatsko, P. & Koh, H. , 2017. Dr. Jonathan Woodson, Military Health System Reform, and National Digital Health Strategy , Harvard Business Publishing: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health case collection. Available from Harvard Business Publishing Abstract Dr. Jonathan Woodson faced more formidable challenges than most in his storied medical, public health, and military career, starting with multiple rotations in combat zones around the world. He subsequently took on ever more complicated assignments, including reforming the country’s bloated Military Health System (MHS) in his role as assistant secretary of defense for health affairs at the U.S. Department of Defense from 2010 to 2016. As the director of Boston University’s Institute for Health System Innovation and Policy starting in 2016, he devised a National Digital Health Strategy (NDHS) to harness the myriad disparate health care innovations taking place around the country, with the goal of making the U.S. health care system more efficient, patient-centered, safe, and equitable for all Americans. How did Woodson—who was also a major general in the U.S. Army Reserves and a skilled vascular surgeon—approach such complicated problems? In-depth research and analysis, careful stakeholder review, strategic coalition building, and clear, insightful communication were some of the critical leadership skills Woodson employed to achieve his missions.

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Quelch, J.A. & Rodriguez, M. , 2013. Glaxosmithkline in China (Parts A, B, & C) , Harvard Business Publishing. Available from Harvard Business Publishing Abstract Four GlaxoSmithKline employees were accused of bribing Chinese health care workers to prescribe the company's drugs. The accusations brought to light the questionable incentive structures of the Chinese health care system and the pressure on companies to adhere to local customs while still observing local laws.

Yatsko, P. & Koh, H. , 2017. Gina McCarthy and the Making of the Clean Power Plan , Harvard Business Publishing: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health case collection. Available from Harvard Business Publishing Abstract As administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2013-2017), Gina McCarthy faced a daunting challenge: to write a technically airtight and legally defensible regulation, the Clean Power Plan, to reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants. The task required deep understanding of current trends in the electric power sector and how regional markets operate to ensure that EPA actions to curb carbon pollution would not threaten energy reliability or affordability. The initiative, officially launched in 2013, was key to U.S. action and leadership on climate change during the Obama administration's second term. McCarthy could count on industry and other players to resist proposed changes. Extensive and thoughtful stakeholder outreach and communication were hallmarks of EPA's approach under McCarthy. The strategies used provide a prominent example for leaders mandated to craft complex regulations in a contentious environment.

Weinberger, E. , 2014. Beauty and the Breast: Mobilizing Community Action to Take on the Beauty Industry , Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED). Download free of charge Abstract How does one learn to become an effective advocate? “Beauty and the Breast: Mobilizing Community Action to Take on the Beauty Industry” tells the story of protagonist Joe Wendell, known as Wendell, an emergency room nurse and widower raising a teenage daughter in Franklin, a largely working class town in the fictional US state of Columbia. One day his daughter announces she would like to have breast implants. The distressing news prompts Wendell into new, unforeseen directions as he learns all he can about implants and surgery, the “beauty culture” permeating society especially in his community, and the psychological development of teenagers. Though relieved to find out that as long as she is a minor she cannot legally obtain the surgery without his consent (and, no doubt, without his cash), Wendell starts to believe that greater protections for teen girls in Columbia are needed. In this effort he is guided by the confident figure of Anna Pinto, director of a community center in an East Franklin neighborhood with a vibrant Brazilian-American community where cosmetic surgery, especially for girls and young women, is something she perceives to be a particular problem and has some ideas about how to address. Teaching note available for faculty/instructors .

Siegrist, R. & Kalenderian, E. , 2012. Casey Dental Associates , Harvard Business Publishing: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health case collection. Available from Harvard Business Publishing Abstract Dr. Casey had just come out of a long meeting with his business manager, Linda Baker, and he was quite concerned. She shared with him that his practice was losing $10,000 a month on monthly revenues of approximately $90,000. Just six months ago he had opened a new office and expected his profit to be growing rather than shrinking. Did he make the wrong decision? He wondered what he should be doing to at least get back to a breakeven level for his practice as a whole.

Cohen, A.P., Madden, S.L. & Kane, N.M. , 2016. Reducing Sharps Injuries in Massachusetts Hospitals , Harvard Business Publishing: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health case collection. Available from Harvard Business Publishing Abstract As Angela Laramie compiled her thirteenth annual report on sharps injuries (SIs) among hospital workers for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Occupational Health Surveillance Program, she noted that the prevalence of injuries had remained at the same level for six years in a row. From 2002 through 2009, the SI rates had trended downward as hospitals implemented sharps injury prevention plans, but starting in 2009, the decline in rates and number of sharps injuries appeared to have stalled. Angela hoped to evaluate the reasons for the apparent lack of progress over the last few years, and to reassess the state’s approach: were the data they had been collecting adequate to meaningfully capture the sources and incidence of SIs in Massachusetts hospital workers? Did it clearly indicate where interventions should be targeted? Were there other data that could help her better understand the flat trend line? What did the data tell her, and what more should she know?

Quelch, J.A. & Weber, J. , 2014. Pfizer Astrazeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (Parts A & B) , Harvard Business Publishing. Available from Harvard Business Publishing Abstract In 2014, Pfizer proposed a friendly acquisition of AstraZeneca, but the AstraZeneca board resisted over price and strategy concerns. Was this good for pharmaceutical consumers? Pfizer, like pharmaceutical companies in general, faced difficulties in growing sales due to the challenges of developing new drugs. Over the previous decade or more, Pfizer had pursued acquisitions as a way to acquire new drugs, increase sales, and to reduce costs by combining operations and cutting staff. Pfizer, a U.S. company, was also interested in AstraZeneca, a U.K. company, as a way to reduce its corporate taxes. In recent years, AstraZeneca had significantly strengthened its pipeline of potential new drugs and its board felt it was in a strong position to go it alone. The company's CEO also indicated that an acquisition would be disruptive to its drug development efforts and delay new drugs coming to market. U.K. politicians expressed concerns over downsizing and job losses in the economically important pharmaceutical sector. The case allows readers to explore who benefits from a potential acquisition (shareholders, employees, drug consumers) and which of these stakeholders should be considered when deciding on an acquisition.

2019. The Case Centre . Visit website A non-profit clearing house for materials on the case method, the Case Centre holds a large and diverse collection of cases, articles, book chapters and teaching materials, including the collections of leading business schools across the globe.

Datar, S.M., Cyr, L. & Bowler, C.N. , 2018. Innovation at Insigne Health , Harvard Business Publishing: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health case collection. Available from Harvard Business Publishing Abstract Insigne Health is a for-profit, integrated health insurer/health care provider whose leadership believes that by shifting members' focus from "sickness" to "well-being" it could increase the overall health of its insured population and decrease the resources it spends each year on delivering care. The case puts students in the role of design researcher charged with understanding the member segment about which Insigne Health leadership is most concerned: The "silent middle." This cohort represents 70% of membership and is "neither sick nor well." Without changes in a range of behaviors, these members may be quietly developing conditions that will evolve into costly chronic diseases. From interviews included in the case, students uncover insights into member behavior and, based on these insights, generate and develop concepts to help members change behaviors and lead healthier lives.

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Caplin v. harvard-westlake school.

California Superior Court

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The Reinvention of Kodak (C) Case Supplement

By: Ryan L. Raffaelli

This case includes links to case supplement videos for students to view with the written case before class, and also supplement videos for faculty to use exclusively during class.

  • Length: 8 minutes, 30 seconds
  • Publication Date: Sep 22, 2020
  • Discipline: Organizational Behavior
  • Product #: 421706-HTM-ENG

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Sep 22, 2020

Discipline:

Organizational Behavior

Industries:

Consumer electronics

Harvard Business School

421706-HTM-ENG

8 minutes, 30 seconds

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kodak case study harvard

  • Harvard Business School →
  • Faculty & Research →
  • June 1976 (Revised March 1984)
  • HBS Case Collection

Polaroid-Kodak

  • Format: Print
  • | Pages: 18

Related Work

  • January 1978 (Revised February 1983)
  • Faculty Research

Polaroid-Kodak (B1)

  • January 1978 (Revised October 1985)

Polaroid-Kodak, Addendum

  • Polaroid-Kodak (B1)  By: Michael E. Porter
  • Polaroid-Kodak, Addendum  By: Michael E. Porter

IMAGES

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  4. Kodak and the Digital Revolution (A) Case Solution And Analysis, HBR

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COMMENTS

  1. Kodak's Downfall Wasn't About Technology

    Kodak's Downfall Wasn't About Technology. by. Scott D. Anthony. July 15, 2016. A generation ago, a "Kodak moment" meant something that was worth saving and savoring. Today, the term ...

  2. The Reinvention of Kodak

    At its peak in 1997, Kodak had a market value of $30 billion. Despite inventing the first digital camera, Kodak stumbled to capitalize on the new technology and by 2011 the company was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In September 2013, Kodak emerged from bankruptcy as a smaller business-to-business (B2B) digital imaging company.

  3. A Kodak Moment to Reconsider the Value of IT

    With Kodak balancing on the precipice, a classic case study on the company offers powerful lessons that still resonate 20 years after it was written. Lynda M. Applegate and Ramiro Montealegre's ...

  4. Eastman Kodak Company: Reviving Through Diversification

    In July 2020, Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) received a US$765 million loan from the US federal government for drug component manufacturing. Kodak's chief executive officer (CEO) was confident about the company's ability to excel in the pharmaceutical industry. However, critics cited several concerns, such as workforce availability and Kodak's lack of experience in the pharma business. The CEO ...

  5. Kodak and The Digital Revolution (A)

    The introduction of digital imaging in the late 1980s had a disruptive effect on Kodak's traditional business model. Examines Kodak's strategic efforts and challenges as the photography industry evolves. After discussing Kodak's history and its past strategic moves in the new landscape, the case questions how CEO Daniel Carp can use digital ...

  6. The Reinvention of Kodak

    The Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) was a name familiar to most Americans. The company had dominated the film and photography industry through most of the 20th Century and was known for making affordable cameras (and the "Kodak Moment") and supplying the movie industry with film. At its peak in 1997, Kodak had a market value of $30 billion. Despite inventing the first digital camera, Kodak ...

  7. Kodak: The Rebirth of an Iconic Brand

    Following its re-emergence from bankruptcy protection in 2014, the marketing team at Kodak has been charged with tripling brand value with consumers, with little marketing budget. The case focuses on the strategies used by senior Kodak marketers Steven Overman and Dany Atkins to leverage the brand's heritage for innovation and creativity with existing and new audiences. With few resources ...

  8. The Real Lessons From Kodak's Decline

    I was at Kodak from '83 - '97, most of that time in electronic/digital imaging R&D and product development. With due respect to Dr Shih's perspective having joined in '97, it was the years leading up to that, when Kodak squandered what could have been a dominant position in digital imaging and possibly online social media, due to lack of vision of what was clear to the engineers.

  9. Kodak and the Digital Revolution (A)

    The introduction of digital imaging in the late 1980s had a disruptive effect on Kodak's traditional business model. Examines Kodak's strategic efforts and challenges as the photography industry evolves. After discussing Kodak's history and its past strategic moves in the new landscape, the case 'Kodak and the Digital Revolution' questions how CEO Daniel Carp can use digital imaging to ...

  10. Kodak (A)

    The introduction of digital imaging in the late 1980s had a disruptive effect on Kodak's traditional business model. Examines Kodak's strategic efforts and challenges as the photography industry evolves. After discussing Kodak's history and its past strategic moves in the new landscape, the case questions how CEO Daniel Carp can use digital ...

  11. Why Kodak Died and Fujifilm Thrived: A Tale of Two Film Companies

    The main problem was that Kodak was not making money with digital cameras. It was bleeding cash. According to a Harvard case study, it lost $60 for every digital camera it sold by 2001.. This ...

  12. Focus on past glory kept Kodak from digital win

    Kodak was losing $60 for every digital camera it sold by 2001 and it was trying to quell a war that had erupted between its digital and film staff, according to the Harvard case study.

  13. The Reinvention of Kodak (A) Case Supplement

    This case includes links to case supplement videos for students to view with the written case before class, and also supplement videos for faculty to use exclusively during class. ... Raffaelli, Ryan. "The Reinvention of Kodak (A) Case Supplement." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 421-707, September 2020. Purchase; About The ...

  14. Case Library

    The Harvard Chan Case Library is a collection of teaching cases with a public health focus, written by Harvard Chan faculty, case writers, and students, or in collaboration with other institutions and initiatives. Use the filters at right to search the case library by subject, geography, health condition, and representation of diversity and identity to find cases to fit your teaching needs.

  15. The Reinvention of Kodak Multimedia Case

    The Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) was a name familiar to most Americans. The company had dominated the film and photography industry through most of the 20th Century and was known for making affordable cameras (and the "Kodak Moment") and supplying the movie industry with film. At its peak in 1997, Kodak had a market value of $30 billion. Despite inventing the first digital camera, Kodak ...

  16. Antibody tests suggest that coronavirus infections vastly exceed

    Study estimates a more than 50-fold increase in coronavirus infections compared to official cases, but experts have raised concerns about the reliability of antibody kits.

  17. Kodak: The Rebirth of an Iconic Brand

    Abstract. Following its re-emergence from bankruptcy protection in 2014, the marketing team at Kodak has been charged with tripling brand value with consumers, with little marketing budget. The case focuses on the strategies used by senior Kodak marketers Steven Overman and Dany Atkins to leverage the brand's heritage for innovation and ...

  18. "Caplin v. Harvard-Westlake School" by California Superior Court

    By California Superior Court, Published on 01/01/12. Automated Citation. California Superior Court, "Caplin v. Harvard-Westlake School" (2012).

  19. The Reinvention of Kodak (A) Multimedia Case

    Citation. Raffaelli, Ryan. "The Reinvention of Kodak (A) Multimedia Case." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 421-704, September 2020. Educators. Purchase.

  20. The Supreme Court Limits The Use Of Race In College Admissions

    June 29, 2023. Click for PDF. Earlier today, the Supreme Court released its much-anticipated decisions in Students for Fair Admissions v.Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v.University of North Carolina.. By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court held that Harvard's and the University of North Carolina's use of race in their admissions processes violated the Equal Protection Clause and ...

  21. The Reinvention of Kodak (C) Case Supplement

    The Reinvention of Kodak (C) Case Supplement. By: Ryan L. Raffaelli. This case includes links to case supplement videos for students to view with the written case before class, and also supplement videos for faculty to use exclusively during class. Length: 8 minutes, 30 seconds. Publication Date: Sep 22, 2020. Discipline: Organizational Behavior.

  22. Polaroid-Kodak

    Berg, Norman A. "Polaroid-Kodak." Harvard Business School Case 376-266, June 1976. (Revised March 1984.) Educators; Purchase; Related Work. January 1978 (Revised February 1983) Faculty Research; Polaroid-Kodak (B1) By: Michael E. Porter. January 1978 (Revised October 1985) Faculty Research;