Jamie McNamara
BUS 641
Corning Case Study
The Houghtons have pioneered innovation and experimentation at Corning. Ingenuity has
been a key element of Corning with the start of the company by Armory Houghton Sr. and
the help of his two sons, Armory Jr. and Charles in 1851, to a century and a half later with
descendant, Jamie Houghton. Throughout the history of Corning, when a Houghton was in
charge, research and development was a large priority.
The philosophy of the Houghtons is to invest in technology and to follow new
technologies. The Houghtons have stayed very true to the idea of investing in new
technologies no matter their financial state. Corning has committed about 10 percent of
sales on research and development throughout its history according to Charles Craig. Even
during times of dismay, Corning still invested into long-term technology. Innovation is the
heart of what they do, and they have continued to invest as much as they can into new
technologies.
The financial results of this extreme commitment to RD&E have fluctuated greatly over
the course of Corning’s existence. For their first century, Corning steadily became more
profitable with consistent customers, until the 1970s where their focus of innovation failed
them. This was owed to an excess of new developments that made up a minority of the
sales. After major cutbacks, Corning recovered and one of their original developments, the
optical fiber, brought them astronomical sales. Their devotion to RD&E has both paid off
and financially destroyed Corning.
As an investor, I would be wary about Corning. Their past has been interestingly filled
