Saturday, January 21, 2012

What could the church learn from Kodak's bankruptcy?

I just read Om Malik's article Why Kodak's bankruptcy should scare Nokia and I wondered if the church might have reason to worry too.

Here are some questions I would ask to help us learn from Kodak's fate.

First, examine the church's -- particularly the Episcopal Church's -- core competency. Where do we dominate? Are we at risk of losing that dominance?

Second, will a "turnaround" be the answer? Restructuring didn't save Kodak.

Third, can we identify any areas where we once led or innovated but where we have not realized the benefits of that innovation? In the mid-1970s, Kodak's R&D developed some of the first digital cameras, an innovation that in the end killed the brand. What was our "digital camera", if any?

Fourth, where is there fear of cannibalizing our existing church models? Is that fear acting as a bottleneck stifling innovation?

Finally, what's in our name? Here is another take on Kodak's fall that says it wasn't their failure to adapt to digital, but that it was actually in their name -- a name that screamed "print photography!"

Could our very name be dead?

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