Kodak sponsorship with Disney Parks to end this year

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Epcot can't even get broken things working or refurbs out of the company's own pocket. They can't even get an 80s 3D film they used to exploit the death of a pop star out of the same said park. To think that they would greenlight something of that scale(and the likelyhood of Fujifilm sponsoring such a big project) make it both slim. They are going to ride on this 'new test track' thing for awhile.
 

jdmdisney99

Well-Known Member

Turtle

Well-Known Member

I_heart_Tigger

Well-Known Member
I, too remember using my old Kodak camera and buying my extra film at the parks. It was getting obvious to see that Kodak was falling behind the times when they did not evolve the way they could have. Even professional printers I use locally had stopped using Kodak paper 10 years ago because Fuji was producing a better paper for the type of digital files people were printing.

Kodak could have survived and I think someone (or everyone?) dropped the ball. They could have not only gotten their hand in the digital market but perfected their printing processes as well as their photo sharing software.

We should all have Kodak apps on our phones, there should be Kodak photo booths in all the parks where we can pose for a picture and print postcards with Disney backgrounds, there should be a Kodak Photo Sharing centre where you can log in, upload your photos and send them home to loved ones or post them online. There should be Kodak memory cards, cameras, photo paper, printers, lenses, filters etc etc but there is nothing. They had film and a sign to tell you where you should stand to take a picture.

It's a shame to see them fall so far but they're a dinosaur and it seems like it's their own fault.
 

Patricia Melton

Well-Known Member
There was a planned Mount Fuji roller coaster for the Japan Pavilion but Kodak threatened with the loss of their sponsorship due to the name of competitor, FUJIfilm. So it was never built. Now it possibly could...
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s3m8xTIkiQU/T3ZUkHDwlxI/AAAAAAAAP8A/XYF-QxV-tQ4/s1600/Fuji.jpg

A Mount Fuji coaster would be amazing! Those super fast trains are big in Japan. I wonder if they could have the ride vehicles be the super fast trains.

Too bad Fuji won't sponsor this. That would be so perfect, but I bet Fuji film is having the same problems Kodak is. I don't know anyone who buys film anymore.
 

Patricia Melton

Well-Known Member
It's a shame to see them fall so far but they're a dinosaur and it seems like it's their own fault.

This happens to a lot of companies. I think it's the legal department and the MBAs they hire out of college that are the problem.

The legal department = convinces executives not to take risks and talks everyone out of following a new idea. Lawyers are inherently risk-averse and get paid no matter what happens. In my personal experience their advice is always to not do something, even if the payoff could be huge. Listening to the legal department is the worst thing a company can do if it wants to thrive and evolve in changing times.

MBAs = these guys come out of colleges that teach them the way to have personal career advancement is to cut costs and reduce expenses. They are not taught how to grow a company to the next level, but how to squeeze the most "profit" out of what already exists...and then sell the company when offers come in that would make a lot of money in the short term. MBAs are very much about the short-term...because they personally aren't going to be at one company for long. Once they get a promotion and a big bonus for making a bunch of cuts they contact headhunters to set up their next job at another company where they will do the same thing. So they have no incentive to make sure a company thrives far into the future.

Unfortunately, Disney has been run by the legal department and MBAs for years. It's why preventative maintenance and other non-revenue-generating investments aren't being made like they used to be when creative people ran the parks.

I am still shocked beyond belief that Carsland and Buena Vista Street were even built. That was a risk TDA took that I bet the legal department and the MBAs fought against...but look how it's paid off.
 

Hakunamatata

Le Meh
Premium Member
MBAs = these guys come out of colleges that teach them the way to have personal career advancement is to cut costs and reduce expenses. They are not taught how to grow a company to the next level, but how to squeeze the most "profit" out of what already exists...and then sell the company when offers come in that would make a lot of money in the short term. MBAs are very much about the short-term...because they personally aren't going to be at one company for long. Once they get a promotion and a big bonus for making a bunch of cuts they contact headhunters to set up their next job at another company where they will do the same thing. So they have no incentive to make sure a company thrives far into the future.

Generalize much?
 

I_heart_Tigger

Well-Known Member
Too bad Fuji won't sponsor this. That would be so perfect, but I bet Fuji film is having the same problems Kodak is. I don't know anyone who buys film anymore.

The place where I get my prints made to sell as well as my wedding albums prints on Fuji paper with a Fuji wet and dry lab. Fuji isn't known well for major consumer electronics but they have managed to keep up with changing times unlike Kodak.

Fuji also makes a line of digital point and shoot cameras as well as a line of lenses which can mount onto Nikon cameras. In association with Xerox they produce photo paper and other specialty paper (iron on, sticker etc) for at home printing.

They make binoculars, lenses for professional tv cameras and rewritable CDs and DVDs for home and professional use.

These are all things Kodak could have done to stay current. I wish they had. I still use a film camera and I liked some of their film but I just bought a pack of Fuji film this week.
 

Patricia Melton

Well-Known Member
Generalize much?

Be pithy and snipe all you want, but I've run my own business for 30 years and I've watched the MBAs and legal advisers brought into many a company tank those places in precisely the way that Kodak tanked.

Almost all of the valid complaints about the Disney corporation can also be tied into the advice and decisions made by MBAs and the legal departments of that company. These guys go to the same schools, belong to the same networking circles, were taught by the same professors, and engage in a lot of groupthink that ends up bringing companies down because they are penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Notice that successful companies are not founded by MBAs or lawyers...but MBAs and lawyers sure seem to always be plentiful on the ships that end up sinking, like Kodak.

Understand much?
 

Hakunamatata

Le Meh
Premium Member
Be pithy and snipe all you want, but I've run my own business for 30 years and I've watched the MBAs and legal advisers brought into many a company tank those places in precisely the way that Kodak tanked.

Almost all of the valid complaints about the Disney corporation can also be tied into the advice and decisions made by MBAs and the legal departments of that company. These guys go to the same schools, belong to the same networking circles, were taught by the same professors, and engage in a lot of groupthink that ends up bringing companies down because they are penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Notice that successful companies are not founded by MBAs or lawyers...but MBAs and lawyers sure seem to always be plentiful on the ships that end up sinking, like Kodak.

Understand much?
Didnt realize there was a big market for MBA watchers. Glad you filled that niche.....
 

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