Entrepreneurship Mishaps
For an entrepreneurial idea to remain relevant in society, and maintain market value, constant innovation to improve and enhance the idea is a must. Innovation involves adding some new features to the already existing business model. Change is inevitable, therefore, entrepreneurs have to adjust to the changes that occur in markets, and plan in anticipation of changes to come in the near future. Failure to adjust to the changes in the markets could be detrimental to the success of any brand or entrepreneurial venture. Many business organizations have crashed out of the market due to their failure to constantly innovate and add new features to match the new market demands. Also, technology has advanced so much in the current world. Any organization that forfeits an opportunity to embrace technology will probably fade out of business in the near future. Some of the great entrepreneurial giants that have failed due to lack of innovation include; Polaroid, Blackberry, Nokia, Blockbusters, and Kodak.
Kodak, a giant in the photography industry, and was established in the 1880s. Kodak was the leading company in photography for many decades with its sales records surpassing ten billion dollars in 1981. However, the name has faded away from the industry with the company filing for bankruptcy in 2012. The failure of this giant can be attributed to a lack of innovation that matches the digital world demands. Despite Kodak’s management being aware of the need to embrace digital photography, they failed to capitalize on the opportunity. Fuji, a Japanese firm, introduced a colored camera which was cheaper than Kodak's cameras. Fuji also incorporated digital features in its devices hence attracting more customers. Kodak’s sales started dropping gradually as the market shifted from analog to digital. Due to the slow initiative to embrace digital photography Kodak finally went out of business, (Yuzawa, 2018).
Blockbuster was a leading movie and film store, a giant in the entertainment industry. The company had successfully survived the shift from VHS to DVD. That was one good strategy that kept the company ahead in the film entertainment industry. More innovations such as the introduction of internet services provided an avenue through which film entertainment could be scaled up to a notch higher. Blockbuster was, however, not much embracing of internet innovation. The company turned down a partnership deal with Netflix, in which Blockbusters would promote Netflix in its stores and Netflix would air Blockbuster’s content on the internet platforms, (Ciccone, 2017). Currently, Netflix is the leading film entertainment organization on Livestream media via the internet while Blockbusters is history.
Both Kodak and Blockbusters were the leading organizations in the film photography and entertainment industries respectively. The two giants failed to capitalize on the opportunity available to advance their market leadership. Kodak was not swift in introducing digital photography before their competitors. The company also failed to revise its pricing policy to beat the Fuji’s sales. While, Blockbusters was focused more on maintaining its status quo in the rental movies business. The company failed to capitalize on the partnership deal with Netflix, which would have seen the two companies dominate the market in current times, (Ciccone, 2017).
To maintain market dominance and preference among customers, companies must adopt innovative strategies that are appealing to the market. First, is to embrace digital technology. The future world is expected to consume more digital technology and cease analog consumption. Secondly, time is of the essence in entrepreneurship. Sometimes being the first is the best strategy to achieve greater market power, (Garud, 2018). If both Kodak and Blockbusters had swiftly capitalized on the opportunities presented, they would still be leading in the markets.
References
Ciccone, E. (2017). Platform ecosystem: an analysis of the business model evolution through Blobkbuster and Netflix case studies.
Garud, R., Gehman, J., & Tharchen, T. (2018). Performativity as ongoing journeys: Implications for strategy, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Long Range Planning, 51(3), 500-509.
Yuzawa, T. (2018). The digital revolution and business behaviour: the case of Kodak versus Fujifilm. Entreprises et histoire, (1), 37-50.