Why Did Kodak's Second Funeral Fail?
They Also Invented the Smartphone Camera's Future — OLED
📜 What Happened
Everyone knows Kodak invented the digital camera and shelved it. Fewer know they did it TWICE: Kodak researchers co-invented OLED display technology in the 1980s — the screens now on billions of phones. Kodak licensed and sold off its OLED business in 2009 for a fraction of its future worth, to raise cash while dying from... digital photography. The same organization that couldn't imagine cameras without film couldn't imagine screens as a business either.
☠️ The Fatal Mistake
A culture so anchored to film chemistry that world-changing inventions were repeatedly priced as spare parts.
🧠 The Lesson (Free for You)
Your org chart determines what your inventions are worth to you. A breakthrough inside the wrong business model is worthless — build a home for new things or they'll make your competitors rich. Twice.
📕 The Antidote Book
Christensen's Harvard research began with a paradox: why do well-run market leaders — companies that listen to customers, invest in R&D, and chase profits rationally — get destroyed by scrappy newcomers with WORSE…
📖 OPEN THE FULL INTERACTIVE BREAKDOWN →Searchable, filterable, free to read — they paid billions; your lesson is free.