Photography Industry One of the most rapidly changing industries is the photography industry. New technologies have improved traditional hand-held cameras and developed entirely new products for new markets and new market segments. While the traditional 'snaps' market remains as buoyant as ever, home-made video photography has taken off very considerably in the past few years. Many holiday makers are no longer content just to take 'stills' but want to keep a living record of their holiday experience. The market for still photography is dominated by a number of large multinational producers in Europe, the US and Japan. It is a tough, highly competitive international business. In the current year, Koji's market share in the US has risen to 20 per cent, according to some market studies. Expansion in the US is a growing necessity for Koji. Fierce competition from foreign makers, including Kodak, is threatening its position as the market leader in its home market. Profitability in Japan is falling

because of sharp declines in prices, while the rapid spread of digital imaging creates more challenges. In the past, Japan's population of keen photographers, Koji's control over the distribution system and the difficulty of penetrating overseas marketsdominated by Kodak in the US, and Germany's Agfa in Europeled the company to concentrate on the domestic market. It derived 90 per cent of its operating profits from Japan. In addition, profit margins for colour film in the home market were double those for overseas sales. Now, however, retail prices of colour film in Japan are about 30 to 40 per cent below prices in the US. While Koji denies it is losing ground at home, its share of the domestic market has slipped from more than 75 per cent to about 65 per cent in the past five years. The main reason given is the penetration of foreign brands and own-label film sold cheaply at supermarkets and discount stores. In addition, Koji has lagged behind in digital imaging, whereas companies such as Canon and Casio have been extremely successful. Koji's weakness in this field could leave it behind in one of the fastest-growing sectors. Against these developments at home, Koji has been aggressive overseas, particularly in the US. It has started making photographic paper at a facility in Dakota and is expanding its US production to start integrated colour film production. Last year, it acquired six photo development centres from a US retailera move that increased Koji's share of the retailer's shelf space for colour film from 25 per cent to 40 per cent. Koji's share of the US market for colour film has increased over the past year to 25 per cent. For the past 10 years, in contrast, its market share had been stagnant at about 15 per cent. Competitors in the US believe Koji's inroad in the US has been a result of pursuing a low-pricing strategy in order to increase market share. Koji strongly denies such accusations on pricing. However, Koji needs to increase sales in order to justify the extra capacity arising from its US investments. Koji's penetration of other overseas markets has also been impressive. In Asia, its market share has risen to 60 per cent from about 50 per cent. In China, it is expanding production of cameras six-fold by adding production of Advanced Photo System cameras there. That move is expected to strengthen its position in the APS market in Japan, the US and Europe

the countries to which the cameras will be exported.

1: What does the concept of strategic windows mean to a firm like Koji? How is it tackling the need to maintain overlapping strategic windows?

2: Does Koji have a competitive strategy plan? If you feel that it does, what is that plan? If you feel that it does not have such a plan, explain your reasoning.