Chinese Imaging Industry. Kodak Chain Management Strategy

Picture printing industry just started at the beginning of 1990s. Nowadays,the Chinese people have much improved their living standards and kept increasing theirspending on social and cultural lives as the Engle's co-efficient drops. At the same time,photo-printing industry has developed rapidly because of the popularity of cameras inpeople's life.Kodak entered the Chinese market in 1930s, but the normal business wasnot developed very well. By the end of 1980s, Kodak recognized that a franchising shop isthe best living advertisement, for an opened franchising shop can not only providecustomers a comfortable environment, but also can be easily popularized and spread. Filmsand albums were put in to a big bright displaying window, customers can do shopping andenjoy service in a more free and comfortable environment, which makes Kodak brandmore competitive. The first Kodak franchising shop "Kodak quick Express" was opened in1994. This model of franchising was introduced to market all over the country and 500shops were opened in 1996. After that, there registered an increase of 1000 shops everyyear. By the end of 2005, there were 9000 "Kodak quick express shops" in 700 cities inChina. Kodak's products got more than 50% market shares of the whole market and Kodakbrand also ranked the first place in the Chinese photographic product market.Although Kodak succeeded in the Chinese photographic market withfranchise model, there are also some detailed negative aspects that are unknown byoutsiders. The author tries his best to achieve this paper by linking his personal experiencesin running Kodak franchise shops and his profound knowledge gained during his MBAstudies. This paper describes how the market begins, how it develops, and what the currentstatus is. The author also brings in the case of Longyear Kodak express shop and conductsa very detailed analysis to the Kodak chains shop market. The author raises the solvingscheme to all the problems in the operational market, providing the executives a series ofuseful and practical suggestions from the strategic angle.