Kodak and Fujifilm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Kodak and Fujifilm - Essay Example The founder of Kodak, George Eastman, an American, was dedicatedly fascinated on still photography and cameras. He patented photographic film to be stored in a roll in 1884 and after four years he had developed the first camera in the world of his invention and started operating in London. Subsequently, gradually the company became the global leader and started to dominate in the global market which has transcended beyond a century. In 1975, firstly, the company brought in significant change in the world of photography inventing digital camera. However, after 1984 in the photographic industry Kodak noticed profound changes in relation to the behavior of customers but still it remained indifferent about the changes in technologies and marketing strategies. As a result, in the 21st Century, it had to stop to manufacturing of a number of products one by one for being unable to sustain and owing to a lack of demand of the products. Finally, in the year 2012, the company filed for bankrup tcy (Beaudette & Palank, 2013). Fujifilm, a Japan based company was established in 1934 and within a decade it spread its landmark in the global market with the incorporation of effective strategies and continuous modernization of technology. In 1980, in keeping with customer requirements and to ensure its sustainability in the global market, the company made a switch from the film to digital market. As a result, it was able leverage huge amount of money from the film business and gradually reached the pinnacle of success in the photographic segment (Fujifilm Europe, n.d.). Core Business of Kodak and Fujifilm Kodak is a well known organization in the photographic film products, equipments, materials, digital imaging and services. Another principal business of Kodak is Kodak international-financial & banking business (Francis & Nias, 2012). The primarily business activities of Fujifilm entail to be involved in the development, production, sales and services of the color photographic film, digital cameras, color paper, photofinishing chemicals, graphic arts materials and equipments, medical imaging equipments, optical devices, photocopiers and printers. By the availability of these varied products, segmentation and innovation, it has captured a big global market after 1990s and has become a market leader in the photographic world in recent times (Fujifilm Europe, n.d.). Compare And Contrast About The Approach Of Management Of Both The Companies To Embrace Innovation And Management Differences That Have Impacted The Relative Success Of Kodak And Fujifilm In the global market perspective, the key dimensions of ‘change’ and ‘innovation’ are the key determinants of success to sustain in the competitive business world. These two factors are the main reasons for the downfall of Kodak and pinnacle of success for Fujifilm in the photographic market. Though Kodak entered in the market of Japan in 1905 but the management of the organization did n ot take the market seriously for strengthening the distribution system, marketing strategies, segmentation, and for making customers needs and demands assessment. After a long period in 1977, it started to focus to strengthen the marketing chain, distribution system and advertising. As a result, it became one of the best photographic product producers of the year in Japan by

The Changing Interaction of Finance, Information and Technology Coursework

The Changing Interaction of Finance, Information and Technology - Coursework Example This has raised questions on the efficiency of the IT departments of companies in carrying out the requirements as stipulated in the act. There were also criticisms about the failure of SOX act in various aspects related to the IT. This paper discuss about the impact of S-OX act on the IT department and a review about the various aspects about the act. â€Å"IT supports the corporation’s drive to comply with SOX by securing and protecting financial data on the network.† (Networkinstruments.com, 2011) The Act requires the companies to impart the compliance process as an integrated business process. The Act also requires continuous risk management and also regular checks about the IT control measures that are put into place as per the Act. The act also put additional accountability on the officers or firm which attests that the companies’ financial reports are true and represents the present state of the firm. The relevant components for the S-OX are internal envir onment, Risk assessment, Control activities, Information and communication and Monitoring. (COSO framework) Sarbanes Oxley Act- Implementation and Impact upon IT departments In order to implement the act effectively, it is very crucial to keep the program cost effective and also sustainable. There should be a cost-effective process in place to provide a greater transparency into the infrastructure and control measures to assure the correctness of the financial reports. In order to keep a continuous track on the system it is very much important that all the processes must be automated and sustainable. When we try to understand the impact of S-OX on IT departments, we need to keep in mind that the act was primarily created for the detection of accounting fraud, make the higher management accountable for the malpractices if any in the organization. The IT comes into picture where it assists the financial practices undertaken in picture. Since all transactions would be recorded in the f ully computerized work environment and also all the audit processes would be recorded, the role of IT comes in. They are responsible for keeping a tab of all the transaction and audit and to retrieve these data when it is required. This essentially means that the pressure created on IT departments is not a direct result of the implementation of S-OX act, since the act is focussed on the accurate disclosure of the financial statements and making the people accountable for their actions. The pressure on the IT departments is coming from within the company as it is the only department which can realistically overview and keep a continuous track of the activities of a firm. â€Å"Companies are increasingly turning to technology in their Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance efforts in order to automate internal controls or streamline their activities, according to new research and interviews last week with corporate executives.† (Hoffman, 2005) Involving IT would help to reduce the time and efforts that needed to create the compliance reports at quarterly and annually. This would also reduce the costs involved in the process. Benefits to IT department while adopting the Sarbanes Oxley Act The benefits of the Act cannot be limited as benefit to IT department alone. Since the positives would finally impact the performance of the company.