Prospects; Restructuring Kodak
LEAD: The Eastman Kodak Company announced a major restructuring aimed at paring
costs following a weak second quarter. The company will cut 4,500 jobs this year and will
sell some of its business units. There will also be a wage and salary freeze for 1990.
Kodaks poor showing comes after its $5.1 billion purchase of Sterling Drug Inc.
The Eastman Kodak Company announced a major restructuring aimed at paring costs
following a weak second quarter. The company will cut 4,500 jobs this year and will sell
some of its business units. There will also be a wage and salary freeze for 1990. Kodaks
poor showing comes after its $5.1 billion purchase of Sterling Drug Inc. last year. Two
customers, an analyst and a corporate strategist offer advice to Kodak. Michael L.
Horowitz Vice president, Kenmar-Camera Corporation, Great Neck, N.Y.
Kodak needs to provide more support from its technical people. The company is very
innovative with its film, but it doesnt provide product support. In the past, it was different.
Kodaks technical representative used to take calls at his home at night and on the weekend.
When he was on vacation, he would leave the number where he could be reached. Those
days are gone.
Now they dont even send out brochures or technical information and they dont tell us
when they made a bad product batch. The first batch of 120 Kodachrome in late 1986 was
bad and it burned a lot of people – but Kodak didnt tell us. Fuji, on the other hand, has very
good technical support. I sold a bad batch of Fuji film and they replaced it and they were
everywhere – all over the customer. Anthony Loew Professional photographer, New York.
I wish that I could use one of Kodaks professional films, test a roll and six months later,
when I buy that film, know that it would do the same thing it did on the original test.
Kodak has romanced the amateur market, but it has ignored the professional market. I
never felt they cared about me. Its my belief that if you romance the pros, the amateurs
will follow. The pros set the pattern. Its like Nikon. Nikon cameras are what a lot of
professionals use, so amateurs go and buy Nikons, maybe not the professional models, but
they buy Nikon cameras. But Kodak couldnt care less about professionals. Eugene G.
Glazer Senior vice president, technology analyst, Dean Witter Reynolds Inc.
