COMPREHENSION ASSIGNMENT Read the article and answer the questions that follows; How Fujifilm the Underdog Outsmarted the Goliath We Once Called Kodak, Daniel Gogek ln mid-2000, a team of top executives at Fujilm sat around the boardroom in Japan and had every reason to celebrate. The past decade of growth was impressive. The company's nancials were great. But it didn't take a genius to see that most of the growth had come from photographic film, and that a whole new revolution was on the horizon: digital photography. Fortunately for Fujilm, one of those executives noticed the writing on the wall: the company's star product, that little green box of high-performing camera film had enjoyed a good run, but, that executive could see, it was just a matter of time. By all accounts, that man was Shigetaka Komori. Shigetaka Komori, a self-described company man and long known within Fujilm as a samurai in spirit, saw no reason to celebrate. He was worried. He saw a major crisis looming. And when he was appointed President of Fujilm in 2000 and then CEO in 2003, that samurai spirit served him well. The task he faced in 2003 was daunting. By that time, it had become clear that the digital camera and digital photography would mean the end of photographic lm. Or would it? It's true that the sales of photographic camera film started to plummet at the staggering rate of 30% per year. But Komori just might be a Japanese version of Steve Jobs. He thought different. He asked questions, and he has thoughtfully documented everything in particular how innovation saved Fujilm in his 2015 book Innovating Out of Crisis: How Fug'iim Survived 1 and Thrivedl As Its Care Business Was Vanishing (Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, CA). The book is an indepth case study in how you can use innovation to save yourself from extinction or bankruptcy. On that last point, F uj ilm's story is a striking contrast to what happened, during the same period, facing the same issues, at their one-time arch-rival Kodak. Depending on who tells that story, top executives at Kodak either sat on their hands for too long or just bet heavily on the staying power of photographic lm. That was like betting on your favorite horse even after it breaks its leg before the race. Kodak led for bankruptcy in 2012. Who would ever have thought that a company making rolls of film would one day be making cancer-treatment drugs? Or how about cosmetics? But those are just two examples of what Fujifilm has done. There are many lessons one can draw from Fujilm's story and Mr. Komori's chronicle. Here are three big lessons that really stand out and that we can all benefit from: 1. Look at Your Existing Strengths as the Starting Point for New Possibilities You likely have great untapped strengths (both within yourself and in your company) that you can probably start applying in new ways. Here's how Komori describes it: \"We needed to ascertain Fujilm's particular strengths,\" which he called the company's technological "seeds.\" He then had Appendix: 10 New Ideas, Businesses that Fujifilm Pursued in Order to Innovate: (How did you do on the 3-new-ideas exercise? Compare your initial thoughts with the fo . . . This is a selective, non-exhausitve list of 10 of the more intriguing ideas for new produc businesses that Fujifilm came up with, and invested in: 1. Cosmetics & Anti-Aging Skin Care. (Perhaps you already knew that the chief ingi photographic film is gelatin, that it's derived from collagen, and that collagen makes uj human skin. If you did, you would have had a head start on seeing this logical next step. for Fujifilm, seeing this possibility required some serious brainstorming into their strer how they could use them differently.) 2. Pharmaceuticals, such as Cancer-treatment Drugs. (As noted above, after acquisition of Toyama Chemical, Fujifilm now carries out joint research on new drugs, an among other things, engaged in the "clinical trials of Fujifilm's new drug FF-10501," a for a type of blood/bone marrow cancer.) 3. The Digital Minilab - Prints from Digital Images. (Even with digital cameras, pe want high-quality prints. Fujifilm already had a strength in photographic paper, and a sti early digital technology. So they began making the photo print machines you see in retail proto stores.) 4. X-ray Film & Digital X-rays. (Just because photographic film largely disappeared didn't mean X-ray film would. It's still used. And Fujifilm combined its growing expertise in digital with its longstanding expertise in X-rays. Result: a digital X-ray diagnostic system that is now the de facto world standard, even after the original patent expired.) 5. Lenses, Lenses, Lenses. (One of the core strengths from the technology in cameras is optical devices, aka lenses. And the market is huge. Look around you and take stock of how many devices use lenses. Fujifilm's main products here are TV camera lenses, security camera lenses, and mobile phone lenses.) 6. Medical Picture Archiving, eHealth Records. (They foresaw not just the digitization of photos, but the digitization of medical records, a huge business. If you're familiar with Ontario's medical system, think eHealth.) 7. Ultrasound Machines. (Human beings will be giving babies (we hope) for a long, long time. Ultrasound machines were a logical next step in developing Fujifilm's imaging technologies, and it was expedited with their acquisition of US ultrasound firm Sonosite.)8. Protective film the Kind Used in Flat Screens, Smartphones. (It's called "polarized protective film" it may not be a household word, but the products that need it are: LCD TV's, computer screens, smartphones, among others. Fujilm had an existing core strength in this area, and invested further.) 9. Office Products, Copiers, Printers, Office Solutions. (Needless to say, this market is huge. Fujifilm built on the existing strengths it had from its joint venture with Xerox (Fuji Xerox), and expanded these.) 10. Offset Printing, other Graphics. (You may have noticed that you still get lots of printed material. Fujilm expanded its four global factories that make the materials for the master plates for all that offset printing, which today is the standard for mass-produced publications, a huge market.) Questions put I How is Fujifilm a good example of how you can innovate out of a crisis? 2. Why the need for Fujilm' to diverse from photographic Film into other areas that include cosmetics? Explain some of the entrepreneurship characteristics that led Fujilm to think different. How do you take your existing strengths, and apply them in new ways to meet the new demands of a changing world? Identify the lessons that can be learnt from Kodak (positive and negative). What are the important factors to consider in setting up a business for the future? . Imagine that you were the CEO at Fujilm in 2022. You've seen the writing on the wall about the future of your company and is challenge by competition from new and existing companies. What steps will you take to innovate beyond your competitors. PE\" as