BBMM103: Management Principles: Case Study - Polaroid - Disruptive Innovation - Business Management Assignment Help

Assignment Task:

Polaroid - Disruptive Innovation! 
The following case study has been written drawing heavily on the information both from the Boston.com Staff website and the official Polaroid website. 

Background 
Polaroid was founded in 1937 by Dr Edwin Land, a scientist who managed the company for more than four decades. "Dr Land," as most people referred to him, left Harvard College before graduation to start inventing in a Cambridge garage. In 40 years, Land built up a company that did about $1.4 billion of business all over the world in 1979. 

He stuck to his guns, never diversified into other businesses, never sold out to another company, and never borrowed money on a long-tern: basis.

The land was in charge of Polaroid, CEO for 43 years during its transition from a small research and marketing firm into one of the most successful high-tech companies ever.

Unfortunately for Land, he was not the type to back down on his ideas. Polaroid in its 'heyday' was the equivalent of "Apple" of its times in the 1960s and '70s. The company's profits started declining in the 1980s which eventually led to Polaroid's bankruptcy in the 2000s. 

Early Days:

The company got its start by grafting polarizer technology onto every product imaginable, including 3-D movies and glare-reducing goggles for dogs. As a 22-year-old Harvard dropout in New York, he sneaked into Columbia University labs to invent the artificial polarizer, which splits light waves into separate beams. 

During World War II, Polaroid designed and manufactured numerous products for the armed services including an infrared night viewing device polarizing and coloured filters for rangefinders and periscopes.

Polaroid's first camera was put on sale at Jordan Marsh in downtown Boston just before Christmas 1948 sold for $89.95. By 1956, Polaroid is distributing its products to more than 45 countries worldwide. 

Instant Photography — Disruptive Technology (Innovation)

In 1943, Land was asked by his three-year-old daughter why she could not see the picture he had just taken of her. Her request led to the Polaroid Land Camera in 1948. This was also the moment that Land conceived the idea of an 'instant camera'.
 
Discussion Questions:

1. What is meant by the terms internal and external forces for change? Which forces do you think are causes of change at Polaroid? 

2. As a manager, how would you deal with resistance to change when you suspect employee fears of job loss are well-founded? 

3. How might businesses use the Internet to identify customer needs through open innovation? What do you see as the major advantages and disadvantages of the open innovation approach? 

4. What is the main corporate culture at Polaroid? Explain. 

5. What type of management approach did Polaroid have? Consider the lecture on the Evolution of Management. 

6 Where does Dr Edward Land's leadership fall on the Blake Mouton Leadership Grid? Explain. 

7. What are the driving and restraining forces of a change you would like to make in your life? Do you believe understanding force-field analysis can help you more effectively implement a significant change in your own behaviour? 

8. Write one goal Polaroid could have implemented using the SMART principle when the companies' profits were declining. 

9. Does Polaroid have a future? Discuss. (hint: research companies that have reinvented themselves) 

10. Which of the three competitive strategies —differentiation, cost leadership, or focus — best explains Polaroid strategy? 

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