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In 1888, George Eastman had a vision of simplifying photography so that everyone could enjoy it. He popularized the slogan "You push the button; we do the rest" (Aventail). Mr. Eastman's vision was to take the cumbersome and complex technology; understood only by a few, and reinvent it for use by the general public. Kodak has achieved a great amount of success over the years as it continues to strive to create the finest quality in still picture images. The company believes that there will always be a basic human need to stop and record time, so that we can reflect back on certain special moments. A fortune 100 company, Eastman Kodak has been the dominant force in the world of pictures for nearly a century. The company earned over $14 billion in sales in 1999, which represented a five percent increase over 1998 (Aventail). For closer look at Kodak's past five-year history and competition refer to the table and graphs on the following page (page 2). The company's main focus is to provide products and services in all fields that deal with photographic imaging. These include: film, cameras, x-rays, professional photography, motion pictures, printing, copiers, publishing, business and digital imaging (Aventail). Eastman Kodak currently employs more than 80,000 people in more than 150 countries (Schwab).
The days of growing fat off the high margin, silver-halide film that is packaged in the ubiquitous yellow boxes has quickly become a faded piece of history (Dobbin). The high profile business that turned Kodak into one of the most recognizable name brands in the world has spent the last ten years struggling for survival. To make matters worse, with the technological advance in the popularity of film-less d ...