Post by busted1964 on Aug 25, 2013 7:33:12 GMT -5
www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013308250006
Time for community to rally around Kodak
Kodak will emerge from bankruptcy next month with a retooled business strategy, six new board members, and a balance sheet clear of crushing legacy liabilities.
It is worth noting that the board (and the company) is now controlled by its creditors and lenders.
The transformed Kodak will be a business-to-business company specializing in commercial imaging, graphics, entertainment and commercial films, packing, printing and the old catch-all, enterprise services.
Antonio Perez remains behind the wheel, for now, but is looking to leave in the next year.
Two gentlemen chosen by the previous board, Douglas Edwards and Brad Kruchten, will be responsible for having the phoenix rise from the ashes. Both are longtime Kodak engineers who for the last decade have worked in senior management, putting toe-tags on zombie businesses before they were jettisoned.
It will be interesting to watch how the new board reacts to the strategy and the personnel in place.
After all Kodak has been through, the new board may be more eager to harvest any brand equity that may remain rather than pursue any long-term business strategies. I hope I’m wrong.
Antonio Perez has taken a lot of heat for failing to turn around Kodak, leading it into bankruptcy, and being well-compensated in the process. I think the palpable community hostility toward Mr. Perez is a bit overdone. In many ways he was trying to catch a falling knife. The boards and senior management for the last 30 years have culpability for comfortably riding a monopolistic enterprise and not aggressively pursuing innovations in their grasp, ultimately leading to corporate hara-kiri. On the other hand, Kodak is more than 100 years old, which Jim Collins, co-author of Built to Last, says puts it in a “special and rarefied group.” Collins indicates that “it’s the predominant pattern that companies eventually self-destruct.”
This will go down as the year of the “great dismembering” of two of Rochester’s corporate stalwarts. It is imperative that our local community leaders and politicos make known to Mr. Perez and the newly installed Kodak board that we will set aside the past and work with them in any capacity possible to further the effort of rebuilding what was once Rochester’s mothership.
Without the urgency of now, we will once again go into fumble formation and attempt to put Humpty Dumpty back together again following some distressing news.
The new Kodak is going to need community support and I would like it to be the Rochester community.
So it is time to make the visit to extend the olive branch. Otherwise the new board members, who have no ties to Rochester, may conclude that the pent-up community hostility is detrimental to achieving their plans.
Kodak’s history as a wonderful corporate citizen is gone for now. Let’s endeavor to ensure it’s not gone forever.
So let’s get to work.
Time for community to rally around Kodak
Kodak will emerge from bankruptcy next month with a retooled business strategy, six new board members, and a balance sheet clear of crushing legacy liabilities.
It is worth noting that the board (and the company) is now controlled by its creditors and lenders.
The transformed Kodak will be a business-to-business company specializing in commercial imaging, graphics, entertainment and commercial films, packing, printing and the old catch-all, enterprise services.
Antonio Perez remains behind the wheel, for now, but is looking to leave in the next year.
Two gentlemen chosen by the previous board, Douglas Edwards and Brad Kruchten, will be responsible for having the phoenix rise from the ashes. Both are longtime Kodak engineers who for the last decade have worked in senior management, putting toe-tags on zombie businesses before they were jettisoned.
It will be interesting to watch how the new board reacts to the strategy and the personnel in place.
After all Kodak has been through, the new board may be more eager to harvest any brand equity that may remain rather than pursue any long-term business strategies. I hope I’m wrong.
Antonio Perez has taken a lot of heat for failing to turn around Kodak, leading it into bankruptcy, and being well-compensated in the process. I think the palpable community hostility toward Mr. Perez is a bit overdone. In many ways he was trying to catch a falling knife. The boards and senior management for the last 30 years have culpability for comfortably riding a monopolistic enterprise and not aggressively pursuing innovations in their grasp, ultimately leading to corporate hara-kiri. On the other hand, Kodak is more than 100 years old, which Jim Collins, co-author of Built to Last, says puts it in a “special and rarefied group.” Collins indicates that “it’s the predominant pattern that companies eventually self-destruct.”
This will go down as the year of the “great dismembering” of two of Rochester’s corporate stalwarts. It is imperative that our local community leaders and politicos make known to Mr. Perez and the newly installed Kodak board that we will set aside the past and work with them in any capacity possible to further the effort of rebuilding what was once Rochester’s mothership.
Without the urgency of now, we will once again go into fumble formation and attempt to put Humpty Dumpty back together again following some distressing news.
The new Kodak is going to need community support and I would like it to be the Rochester community.
So it is time to make the visit to extend the olive branch. Otherwise the new board members, who have no ties to Rochester, may conclude that the pent-up community hostility is detrimental to achieving their plans.
Kodak’s history as a wonderful corporate citizen is gone for now. Let’s endeavor to ensure it’s not gone forever.
So let’s get to work.