The news has gone from bad to worse. The bad news: Kodak, the company that fueled the growth of the photography industry is selling its patents. Not the patents for intellectual property related to film photography, but its more than 1,000 patents for capturing, storing, organizing and sharing digital images, according to the Wall Street Journal. And the really bad news? Kodak has filed for bankruptcy. Yes, Kodak was that hard up for cash and did not find it. Its leaders failed one of the most important tests of strategic leadership – building a balanced portfolio of business models. Kodak invested in new business models too late. As film stopped delivering the riches, the printer/cartridge business model demanded too much cash for too many quarters, creating an unsustainable situation. A company can be viewed as a portfolio of different business models, each using…
Business model innovation lessons from century-old IBM
I fondly remember being a guest at a 100th birthday celebration – that of my client Hufcor, the worldwide leader in moveable partitions and walls to create flexible space. But Hufcor wasn’t always the leader. A savvy new owner/CEO, Mike Borden, saved Hufcor from bankruptcy by pursuing an operational effectiveness strategy, process innovation and global expansion, which ultimately positioned Hufcor where it is today. At its centennial celebration, I observed the pride its stakeholders felt as they celebrated generations of Hufcor’s contributions to its employees and their families, its customers and distribution partners and the humble blue-collar town of Janesville, Wisconsin. As IBM celebrates its well-deserved 100th year birthday this month, business leaders should study how this Fortune 500 giant (and mid-size companies like Hufcor) arrived at this momentous milestone. The $100 billion global technology leader, with its 427,000 employees, defied the odds….