KODAK DESIGN CHANGE

Kodak Design Change

Kodak Design Change

Organizational change is a complex process is likely to receive resistance from some; however, when management delivers the positives, resistance is bound to fade. Some salient aspects of organizational change are management will focus on the customers to gain their confidence, focus will on be on the employees to gain their trust, and a relationship will broaden with the suppliers. This paper will describe the organizational change Kodak experienced as a means to maintain success and in this digital driven and diverse economy.

George Eastman's wish was to make “photography as convenient as the pencil” and began by creating the first handheld camera which could take pictures with a push of a button in 1889 (Kodak, 2008). He built the company's success with his own ingenuity and his advertising campaign where he coined the slogan, “you press the button, and we do the rest.” (Kodak, 2008, para. 28) Since then Eastman and the Kodak brand have been creating film products which enhance both consumer and professional photographers, and Kodak is changing from the traditional company of film and photography and developing into the new “cool” digital company.

The recent changes for Kodak were in their traditional supply chain and introduced their demand-driven model, which proved successful in 2008 (Hickey, 2007). With the CEO and Chairman, Perez stating, “We now have in place our core product portfolio, organizational structure, and leadership team that will take us through the second part of our transformation.” (Hickey, 2007, para. 7) Kodak looked at the best practices at Toyota to develop this demand-driven supply chain and with this they created a better approach where they linked customer service and customer segmentation with demand policies instead of sales or forecasting on the demand side. This new plan helped eliminate waste by making the goal to reduce inventory and costs (Hickey, 2007). Management enlisted the assistance of members from every key department: supply chain, manufacturing, purchasing, and logistics, and they were brought together to oversee the just-in-time technology program and their input was priceless, especially as everyone worked hard until the new program was implemented (Hickey, 2007). The new system has allowed Kodak to know immediately when products are short, and instead of products being stacked in warehouses, now products are only sent when necessary or they are “cross-docked” based on final destination before being sent to the trucks for delivery (Kodak, 2008).

Kodak in 2005 hired Eric Holder, ex-US Attorney General, to head the Diversity and Inclusion Department, and he formed an external Diversity Council which determined ways in which Kodak would best transform from a traditional to a transformed organization (Kodak, 2008). The Diversity Council, suggested they devise strategic initiatives to improve their brand image and focus on “global diversity, leadership involvement in diversity recruiting, retention, and education initiatives.” (Cole, 2006, para. 12) Following through, the company started building supplier relationships with at least 10% women and minority businesses by 2006 (Kodak, 2008). As part of the supplier diversity program, Kodak supports initiatives ...