Strategic Marketing Management_Polaroid Corp

8/3/2019 Strategic Marketing Management_Polaroid Corp

1/4

Case Study

Submitted to:

Professor Dr. Razia Begum

Course Teacher: Strategic Marketing Management

Evening MBA Program

Department of Marketing

University of Dhaka

Submitted by:

Saima Rahman

ID # 40713028

13th Batch

Evening MBA Program

Department of Marketing

University of Dhaka

Polaroid Corp.


2/4

Situation:

Polaroid Corp. having its headquarters at Cambridge was engaged in manufacturing of

Polaroid camera that was very famous during the period of 1950s and 1960s. During thatperiod Polaroid camera had a high demand and Polaroid Corp. had a very good market

position. But the rise of one-hour photo labs and digital photography in 1980s and 1990s

changed the picture and Polaroid Corp. was facing a downward trend in the market. The

company tried to regain their financial strength by restructurings and layoffs. But turmoil in

Russia and Asia in 1998 caused Polaroids significant sales there to collapse. As the

result debt rose, its credit ranking sank and several executives jumped ship.

To recover from this position and to capture new market, Polaroid Corp. launched theirnew innovation Pocket Camera in the market which received highly positive response

from the market, especially the teenagers were very attracted to this new camera. But

again problem rose to produce camera films cheaply due to cross-border barriers which

was solved by Polaroid Corp. after a lots of struggle. Though the Pocket Cameras were

not of high quality, but the small size and cheaper price gave Polaroid Corp.s a huge

market response. Polaroid Corp. promoted their product in various manners and launched

new models with attractive colors to increase the demand for Pocket Camera. Later

Polaroid Corp. launched their instant cameras with a view to recover from the financialcrisis and debt. But introduction of the digital camera faded the hope of Polaroid Corp. as

the demand for instant film was over flown by the digital technology. Customers were

more attracted towards digital camera as it is better in quality and has variable outputs.

Now Polaroid Corp. was hoping to regain their market position and financial recovery by

launching new hybrid digital/instant camera. But Polaroid Corp. was in uncertainly of being

successful in the digital era.

Problem:

The major problem that Polaroid Corp. faced was lack of innovative technology required to

sustain the severe market competition. When the other companies were entering into the

digital era, Polaroid Corp. had neither the financial strength, nor the technological

expertise to grab on the new opportunity. The management of the company did not have

the forecasting power to adopt new strategies to cover-up the decrease in demand for

their products or to face the challenge of new digital technology. Some executives tried to


3/4

regain the financial strength by cut-offs, while some tried by selling out high costly projects

that could not be carried on by Polaroid Corp.

Though Polaroid Corp. tried to innovate new and eye-catching cameras, but none of theseproducts had market demand for a long time due to lack of quality in terms of taking

pictures and also because of introduction of better technologies. It is evident from the

case of Polaroid Corp. that they did not have a well-defined strategic planning or vision for

where they want to be in the future and what they have to do to be there. Rather the focus

was on skimming the market with their available products with few changes in models and

colors. But these were not enough for long-term market leadership, neither these

strategies could help them much to fully recover from the financial crisis. There was no

dynamic innovation to secure their future by capturing more customers, and they did nothad the expertise to cash on the opportunity of becoming the market pioneer in terms of

digital technology. As the result, Polaroid Corp. is now facing a serious threat of being

thrown out of the market competition of producing quality digital cameras and going deep

down under the financial crisis and debt which is required to be solved by launching new

innovative cameras with high quality and features under a well-defined strategic planning.

Solution:

Polaroid Corp. needs to adopt with the present demand and change in the technology of

camera. At first, Polaroid Corp. has to hire a group of highly skilled people who can set-up

a properly addressed strategic plan with an achievable goal that will ensure both the

market share and profitability. Resources and capabilities should be revised in order to

match with the objective. Also technical persons with in-depth technological know-how

should be hired to innovative digital cameras with unique features. Product design,

pricing, promotion and distribution should be properly planned so that the new products

can earn them their expected revenue. As Polaroid Corp. are not in a good shape in terms

of their financial health, they should look for debt-financing, or they can simply try to get in

joint-venture or strategic alliances with other successful companies. It is an era of high

competition and it is not possible for Polaroid Corp. to sustain the same unless they can

come-up with new innovative products. Product diversification can be another option for

Polaroid Corp. as it can open new opportunities. Efforts in research & development should


4/4

be increased to ensure that Polaroid Corp. always remain a step ahead in terms of

competitive advantages.

Evaluation:

Polaroid Corp. proved earlier that they can fight back the distressed situation. Now, they

are once again in the face of being out of market against the challenge of new

technologies. There is no alternative for Polaroid Corp. other than to redesign their

strategic planning with a well-defined objective to regain their market share once again by

adopting the technological changes, innovating new products through continuous

research & development, and setting-up a market-driven strategy for positioning their

products in the market.

Documents

Strategic Marketing Management_Polaroid Corp