
R EPEATA BILI T Y
186
fight the future—that is, continue to promote traditional film
as long as possible. With a brand as important as Kodak, a rapid
move and an endorsement of digital would accelerate consumer
moves from traditional film. This was not bad management
putting its head in the sand; this was simply management trying
to preserve economic value and responding to incentives.
And that is the ultimate challenge of adaptation: it is expen-
sive. Given that, it can easily feel better to fight adaptation, ride
the core business a little longer, and hit short-term earnings tar-
gets. We studied forty cases (see figure 5-5) of companies