The Kodak-Fuji Duel*

            


Details

Case Code : CLBS047
Publication date : 2004
Subject : Business Strategy
Industry : Imaging
Length : 04 Pages
Price : Rs. 50

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Key words:

Fuji Photo Film (Fuji), Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak), high resolution film, Summer Olympics sponsorship, R&D, Processing speed, Nagasse, Bandai, minilabs, Noritsu Koki, product range, single use camera, photographic paper, marketshare.


* This caselet is intended for use only in class discussions.
** More comprehensive case studies are priced at Rs.200 to Rs.700 (US $5 to US $16) per copy.

 


Abstract: ICMR India ICMR India ICMR India ICMR India RSS Feed

The caselet discusses the entry of Fuji into the American market and how the company build its marketshare slowly and steadily. The case looks into the marketing strategies followed by Fuji and how Kodak retaliated to the threat from Fuji in the US and the Japanese market.

Issues:

 » Strategies adopted by a multinational corporation while trying to enter and expand in an international market.
 » The ways in which a foreign company challenges the market leader in the photographic industry in its home markets.
 » Understand the market leader’s response towards the challenger and analyze the effectiveness of the response.

Introduction

The Japanese photo major, Fuji Photo Film (Fuji) first entered the US market in 1964 as a supplier of private label film and established its first subsidiary in 1965.


Since the beginning, Fuji focused on providing quality and innovative products to its US consumers. Fuji felt that it made more strategic sense to follow the New York based, Eastman Kodak Company’s (Kodak) lead, avoid attracting Kodak’s attention, and not take any steps that would provoke Kodak’s retaliation.

The company focused on building its marketshare in the US by adopting strategies to get the share of weaker US competitors rather than that of Kodak....

Questions for Discussion:

1. Examine the strategies adopted by Fuji to enter and build its presence in the US market. Analyze the reasons for Fuji’s success in the US.

2. Examine the strategies adopted by Kodak to counter Fuji in Japan. What were the reasons for Kodak’s poor performance in Japan?