Ed Bukszar, an SFU expert on international business strategy and decision-making, likens Eastman Kodak’s failure to dominate the digital imaging market to “a zebra trying to change its stripes.”

Bukszar, who has spent a decade lecturing about Kodak’s business strategy, can comment on the photography icon’s slow painful slip into bankruptcy.

Bukszar notes photography equipment inventors knew for 20 years digital imaging was coming down the pipe. He adds: “Kodak decided early on that it would try to compete in the new paradigm, but that required a complete change in core competencies, decision makers, product focus and competitors. This was a rich company channeling its cash flows trying to evolve into something different. It failed repeatedly. This final failure came after many previous failed attempts to adjust. Most companies facing substitute products die a quick death. Think slide rules and calculators. Kodak had decades to prepare for the change and couldn't pull it off.”

Ed Bukszar, 778.782.5195/4935 (w), 604.767.4873; bukszar@sfu.ca