Current Organizational Capability And Core Competence Of Kodak: Analysis And Recommendations

Discuss About The Current Organizational Capability And Level Of Core Competence.

Strategic management tends to form a crucial part of an organization and it is increasingly important for any company in a firm to realize that the strategies need to be adapted to the changing needs of the business environment in order for the firm to be successful in its operation. The given report throws light on the various factors that may have an impact on the strategies especially with respect to the marketing strategies of the firm (Abushova, urova, & Suloeva, 2016). The organization chosen for the analysis is the Kodak Company. Various components like the factors which are influential will be discussed along with recommendations.

The Eastman Kodak company is an American firm whose products are primarily based on prints and photographs. The company has its headquarters in the Rochester and the company is involved in businesses like graphic communication, printing, functional raising and packaging. The company achieved huge success in its time but later on the company got affected by the rise of the digitalized era. In the year, 2012 the company filed for Bankruptcy and stopped its operation trading cameras completely (Kodak.com, 2018). This bankruptcy was filed because the firm was unable to provide modern services to the various customers present in an organization.

The capabilities of Kodak are as follows:

Every organization has different capabilities and all organizations do not perform in a similar manner (Bryce, 2017). In the competitive business environment, if an organization needs to gain a competitive advantage, then the organization should possess certain capabilities that help it to become better than its competitors. Kodak was a market leader in the given industry. However, Kodak did not possess the capability of adapting to the technological change that took place in the external environment of the business.

The resources of Kodak are given as follows:

A resource can be described as an asset or capital which increases the capability of the business organization with respect to the performance (Harrison & John, 2013). Kodak has had the hold of various resources. For instance, the owner of the company had the possession of the dry plate formula which contributed to the success of the company in its early days (Alkhafaji & Nelson, 2013). The founder himself was one of the greatest resources of a company and the workforce was given utmost importance. Kodak had an access to a large number of equipments, out of which some had to be changed in order to enable the firm to change with the digital age; however, it was unable to do so. The company was taken aback by the digital age and was unable to adapt to the rate of change of the technology in the environment. If Kodak would have been able to take control of its resources and harness them accordingly, it would have been in a favorable position now (Lasserre, 2017.)

Current organizational capability and level of core competence

Competencies can be described as the skills through which the given resources are deployed in organizations core activities. These core competencies have a great hand in promoting and achieving the competitive advantage of the firm.  The company should aim to achieve a competitive advantage which is difficult to obtain by the competitors (Zott & Amit, 2013.). The companies should try and engage in competency enhancing innovation which would increase the sustainability as well as success rate of the firm (Hubbard & Galvin, 2014)

The corporate appraisal process can be defined as a process which can be used to analyze the core competencies of a firm and analyze the strengths as well as weaknesses of an organization. It also helps in analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an organization so as to determine the areas of improvement and arrive at the suitable Recommendations to be made by the organization (Wood, Wrigley, & Coe, 2016). The corporate appraisal process involves making the Strength and Weakness of the concerned organization and then analyzing the gap.

The strengths of Kodak are:

• Good brand name- has a huge impact on the capability of the given organization. Organization has a good brand name in the market which is beneficial
• Socially responsible company- The company is a socially response firm which helps it in maintaining a good image in front of the consumers

The weaknesses are as follows:

• Lack of focus- The company lacks focus in terms of its objectives
• Unable to expand digitally- It failed to intake technological advancements.

Therefore from the above analysis it could be observed that the firm`s own resources tend to have a huge impact on the working of the company and its position in the market. The core competency, resource and the capabilities have a huge impact on the strategies (Bull, et al., 2016).

An organization does not function alone. There are various companies working within the company that tend to have a huge impact on the way an organization works and even on the way it serves its customer markets. Competition can be described as the presence of similar firms in the business. The competition in a given business environment may be selling the same kind of products or a better version of it (Wright, Paroutis, & Blettner, 2013). The competition should also be considered before forming a strategy sp as to ensure that the given organization does not stay behind in the market. A competition may have various impacts on the working of the firm, with respect to the price, quality and quantity sold.

• Competition may have an impact on profits the competition prevailing in the industry might have a huge impact on the profits of the firm. The profits of the firm can be defined as the money left after paying off all expenses and taxes. If the competitor present in the given industry is very large then the revenues may get divided and it may impact the different profit making capabilities of a firm (Williamson, Cooke, Jenkins, & Moreton, 2013). Thus may have an impact on the capability of the organization to serve the customers.
• Competitors may have products which may satisfy the needs to customers- Competitors differ in nature and size. They may have offerings which are more suitable for a customer and this might have the capability to tamper the business of the company in question which is Kodak. Hence, the products of the other firms matter (Jarzabkowski & Kaplan, 2015. ).
• They often engage in price wars- Competitive companies in a given industry tend to have an impact on the price set by the given organization.  This then has the capability to have an impact on the firm as they need to set prices accordingly.
• Act as a motivator- According to Bryce (2014), competition tends to have a huge impact on the organization and that sufficient competition can actually motivate the firms to perform better and excel in the given field. If the firm wants to perform well in the given field, they need to outperform their competitors.

Competition also tends to have a huge impact on the kind of market a firm chooses to serve to. This means that presence of large competitors in a given industry tends to determine whether the firm shall enter that given segment or not (Barney, 2014). Firms like Kodak should see to it that they are serving those customer segments that do not have the presence of very large competitors.

Competencies

Appropriate market for Kodak

As per the analysis, it can be said that the market which can be served by Kodak may choose to serve is the market of the technological friendly and image print oriented consumers. As Kodak is still dealing in prints, concentrating on the given industry may determine huge profits for the given firm.

The external environmental factors that may have an impact on the strategy of the firm are the Technological Factors and the Socio-cultural factors.

Technological Factors

These factors may be defined as the factors which tend to take place in the technological environment of a business and may be related to various factors like rate of change of technology, technology advancements, new equipments available, the research and development present in an industry, the use of technology to enhance operations and the kind of technology tools which might enhance customer value (Hill, Jones, & Schilling, 2014).

The technological factors that may have an impact in the business of Kodak have been as follows:

• The fact that the use of cameras has become an essential aspect of any individual’s life tends to impact the business in a very important manner.  People have started making use of social media and have the habit of posting their images on social media sites so as to gain the attention of the different people.  This can tend to have an impact on the business of the firm as Kodak is mainly focused on print photos and not on the digitized one.
• The rapid development which takes place in the field of technology brings in massive investments for highly skills staff, marketing efforts and production equipment necessary (Kalkan & Bozkurt, 2013)
• The new digital cameras need to abide by considerations with respect to the environmental

The socio cultural factors

The socio cultural factors may be described as those factors which tend to have a huge impact on the kind of target market which the firm caters to. This means that the organization has to take various decisions based on the consideration of the various psychographic, demographic and behavioral aspect of the audience. These factors may be largely defined by the social as well as culture differences in the business environment.  According to Bryce (2014), men tend to purchase cameras more than women which then can have an impact on the marketing of the firm. The buyers have changed their purchasing pattern which no enables them to by those goods which comprise of various features like digital storage and cameras on mobile phones.

Strategies can be defined as those components of a business environment that tend to determine the future of the given organization. The strategies go a long easing in determining whether the business will be able to survive in the given environment or not. Strategies are not juts depended on the various features if the organization but on various factors lying outside the realm of the organization  (Bettis & Mitchell, 2014). The given section discusses how the given factors tend to have a huge impact on the marketing strategies of the organization.

The organizational competencies and the resources use are one of the greatest determinants of the strategies adopted by the organization. This is because; the organizational competencies and resources serve as the real picture of an organization. It determines the actual capabilities of the firm and it should be noted that it is always on the basis of the given capabilities that a given firm chooses it strategies (Johnson, 2016). For instance, if the company has the capability of producing large goods at lowered prices then it might opt for a cost leadership strategy. In this manner, it might have to adopt marketing strategies which may have the capability to portray the cost leadership aspect of the firm and show it as a firm who is worried about consumer purchase cost.

Corporate appraisal process

The presence of competition and the kind of market which the company aims to serve also impacts the strategy. This means that if the company is present in an industry where the competition is intense like the competition is quite intense for Kodak, and then it may be necessary for a firm to adapt strategies which help it to survive. In the same manner the strategies are also a determinant of the market served. For instance, as Kodak operates in a highly competitive market, it may choose to opt for a product different ion strategy which might go a long way in helping the firm to adopt the changing needs of the market dynamics. The marketing strategy will need to portray how a company`s predict is different from that f its competitors.

The external factors related to technology and the social cultural factors

The external factor, although present outside of the organization tend to have an impact on its functioning. If the external factors indicate a barrier, the company may have to change its strategies accordingly (Darmawan, Putra, & Wiguna, 2014). For instance, the new technological development factor for Kodak indicated that it needs to adopt an innovation strategy to come out with a mere for digital pictures. The firm would have to indulge in an innovating marketing strategy involving newer techniques.

Conclusion

Therefore from the given analysis on the impact of various strategies on the functioning of Kodak company. Strategies are compulsory to form and it is the duty of the organization that to see to it that all strategies promote growth. It can be stated that there are various factors which tend to have an impact on the functioning of the company and its marketing strategy. The report analyzes the various factors of a business in the external and internal environment of a business along with recommendations on how each of them can be considered to improve and contribute for a company to prosper.

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