Harvard Business School 9-492-037 Rev. April 4, 2000 Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A) Joline Godfrey slowly surveyed the room where she and her partner, Jane Lytle, were bargaining for the future of their venture, Odysseum. For the past three years, Polaroid had provided Godfrey with the resources to nurture her idea of using photography as the basis for creative corporate training programs. Now, after agreeing to spin the project off into an independent company, Godfrey was unpleasantly surprised at the proposal Polaroid had made. In return for 14% equity, Polaroid expected to invest only an additional $120,000 in the company. Godfrey did not believe that this offer was consistent with the support she was …show more content…
But he brought us into contact with company officers and helped us gain a more intimate understanding of the company culture. Impressed with Godfrey’s work in the affirmative action department, Rebelsky suggested that she move into a line personnel position in the camera division. He pushed her, explaining that it was the only way she could have a significant impact on the company. Godfrey resisted; she did not want to be part of the typical “corporate lifestyle.” Ultimately, Godfrey succumbed to Rebelsky’s persistence by accepting a line human resource position in the camera division. Bill Rebelsky’s sudden death shortly thereafter was a tremendous loss for Godfrey: He was my role model for not having a job title. He didn’t have to have a job. He was very important in terms of my understanding of how to use the cracks in the company to achieve the things you felt needed to be done. Bill was a master at that. I remember asking him about career ladders. And he said, “Career ladder! Whatever gave you the thought that anything in life is as neat as a ladder?” By the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, Polaroid faced changing times. Dr. Edwin Land, who founded Polaroid in 1947, retired. His influence had extended from the technical development of products to the recruitment of new employees. One executive noted: Dr. Land created, all of us together created, an exciting, can-do environment in
Beauport’s goals to progress herself within marketing management are “hidden” to others including Gilman which is why he believes he is rewarding her while she believes she is a victim of sexism/racism in the workplace. There has been no effort by HY Dairies to evaluate and identify Beauport’s personal career goals.
Polaroid’s overall growth strategy was to be the number one and only instant photography company through the invention of it’s own technology in its own laboratories. “Growth objectives are a key part of an organization’s overall strategic plan. Almost all strategic plans deal with the size the company wishes to be in the future” (Human Resource Management pg. 110). One of the ways in which Polaroid planned to be the only instant photography company—in turn would also make it the greatest—was through 533 patents. “Polaroid is still characterized by many as a company that hold too tight a grip on its patents” (Human Resource Management pg. 130). Polaroid’s strategic plan was always to stick with their one invention, improve on it’s technology, and target the sole market. This affected HR planning and strategy because Edwin H. Land did not want to enter other markets; Land wanted Polaroid to be about instant photography. The decision to stay in only one market affected HR from doing what they are suppose to do. It prevented them from being creative or innovative.
Sherrie Wilson “They Forgot Mammy Had A Brain” chapter is one that discusses a variety of pressures that an African American woman may encounter in a work environment. The chapter uses professor, Andra, in a college setting to discuss these pressures from her own experience at a PWI university. In the chapter many pressures were mentioned; double marginalization, designated visibility, racial battle fatigue, and the historical mammy concept, all of which were apart of Andra’s experience.
I am very interested in a career field in Human Resources. For this paper, I interviewed Lillian Mannino who is a Human Resource and Personnel Manager at the UC San Diego Graduate School of Global Policy and Strategy. As a manager, Lillian serves as the link between the graduate school’s management and its employees. She is in charge of overseeing recruitment, employee relations, policy development, payroll, and benefits. Personnel management is a special branch of management that is focus on the concerns of employees at work and their relationship with the organization. Her educational experiences consist of a bachelor degree at UC San Diego in Management Science and a professional Human Resources certificate from UCSD Extension. She has been working in the academic administration for almost ten years and earned her current position as manager through climbing up the ladder. She started off working in this field as a student affairs officer then was promoted to an administrative specialist. Her prior work experience paved a path for her to build up professional experience as well as a solid network within the UCSD administrative system.
The case is about Melissa Richardson, middle manager (sales manager) of the multi-cultural organization, who’s been promoted and is challenging a number of factors at the workplace, that affects her and her team’s ability to perform well.
Raymond Kelly is a great role model and leader to follow for my career field
Acquiring a job, whether it be in a doctor’s office or a fast-food restaurant, can transform a person. Jobs tend to educate employees, both about themselves and life in general, either indirectly or directly. In Climbing the Golden Arches, nineteen year-old Marissa Nuñez discusses the work ethics she gained while being employed at her McDonalds. Within her essay, Nuñez mentioned how she faced both pleasant and unpleasant circumstances at her work, all which prepared her for her future career. As an individual who worked at McDonald’s, Nuñez learned how to fulfill her role of being an employee by becoming an expert at all the placed stations, dealing with the various types of customers she encountered on a daily basis, and by acting as an efficient team member. When Marissa Nuñez, who was a high schooler at the time, first applied for this job at McDonald’s, she probably did not apply with the intent of becoming a more responsible and efficient individual. However, as time went on and she utilized the skills she obtained from working long and hard at McDonald’s, Marissa Nuñez found herself transitioning from a high school student to a
1. Evaluate Kodak's strategy in traditional photography. Why has the company been so successful throughout the history of the industry?
In 1968 Bill began working for the Carnegie library in Homestead. This was the one job he loved the more then firefighting. At the time of his death, he had worked there almost 28 years. Bill started his library career out by assisting with gymnastic classes, and soon became an instructor for swimming lesions, teaching both adults and children. This is where we believe he gained a compassionate spot in his heart for children. During his career he encountered many children and teens but while teaching a gymnastic class to a child that was deaf, Bill quickly found himself in a challenging position. Being as compassionate for people as he was he made the decision to learn sign langue so that he could communicate with this child, and instruct her
The problem in this case is Kodak's steadily eroding market share and shareholder value in the film rolls market. This is especially undesirable given the fact that the market has been growing at a tepid 2% annual rate and the steadily increasing threat from competition. Kodak needs to come up with a strategy for corrective action so as to arrest this decline, regain market share and increase share holder value. Kodak's strategy is to reposition itself by targeting a new segment of price sensitive customers and re-segmenting the super premium customers’ space by including a wider segment of special occasion customers.
4) Pamela Jones was going to be transferred to another position in a branch about 100 miles from Vancouver. Do you think it is only her husband’s work that makes her reluctant to take this position? What other motivational elements
When Kodak began making changes to its organizational architecture in 1984, its current architecture did not fit the business environment for the industry. The largest factor that motivated Kodak to make this change was increased competition and decreased market share. Until the early 1980’s, Kodak owned the film production market with very little competition. This suddenly changed when Fuji Corporation and many other generic store brands began producing high quality film as well (Brickley, 2009, p. 358). Another factor in this change was technology advancements. As technology rapidly expanded in the 1980’s, other
In late March 1996, Ralph Norwood was faced with the task of restructuring Polaroid’s capital structure. In the past, Polaroid had a monopoly in the instant-photography segment. However, with upcoming threats in the emerging digital photography industry and Polaroid experiencing recent losses in their market share due to Kodak’s competition, Gary T. DiCamillo, recently appointed CEO of Polaroid, headed a restructuring plan to stimulate the firm’s performance. The firm’s new plan has goals such as to aggressively exploit the existing Polaroid brand, introduce product extensions, and enter new emerging markets such as Russia in order to secure Polaroid’s future.
While Kodak has historically been a well-established brand name in the marketplace, it struggled to find a niche when the industry morphed from a film-based market to a digital-based market. Kodak has struggled to successfully evolve its film-based business structure to the new structure of digital-based technology, which has allowed for competitors to enter the market, decreasing Kodak’s market share. Competitors (such as Canon Inc., Fuji Photo Film Co., Hewlett Packard Co., Nikon, and Sony Corp.) have posed major threats to Kodak’s livelihood. Kodak faces a 5% drop in film sales (2001-2003) and a 3% reduction in overall revenues over the same time period. In addition, revenues and net income are expected to be fairly flat (or decrease) in future estimates. Kodak faces much pressure to revitalize their business through digital imaging, a radical innovation, or risk being eaten alive in an industry they thought they controlled.
Protected by patents, the competition for the company in the field of instant photography was low. The attempts to diversify