From flexible roll-film to photography in natural color: the evolution of innovation management at Eastman Kodak

De la pellicule souple à la photographie en couleurs naturelles: l’évolution de l’organisation de l’innovation chez Eastman Kodak

Nicolas Le Guern ()
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Nicolas Le Guern: C2RMF - Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France - MCC - Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: This article shows that the management of innovation at Eastman Kodak changed profoundly between 1880 and 1912. Its founder George Eastman evolved from the status of entrepreneur-inventor, contributing directly to the innovation of the firm, to that of coordinator of a new structure from 1912. This article first stresses the risk taken by Eastman at the end of the 1880s, counting only on his photochemist to develop in 1890 a new flexible photosensitive roll-film. Then the article points out Eastman's awareness to fundamentally change the innovation model at Kodak, by creating in 1912 a new structure of technical and scientific knowledge, the research laboratory. Kenneth Mees, a British scientist experimented with the photographic market, directed the laboratory and implemented his theories on the organization of research. The article concludes by underlining the benefits of the new innovation model for Kodak in color process research, noting its evolution towards the recent concept of open innovation.

Keywords: Eastman Kodak; innovation; business; research laboratory; industrial research; photographic industry; entreprise; laboratoire de recherche; recherche industrielle; industrie photographique (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-09-13
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Published in Technologie et innovation, 2021, Histoire d’innovations, histoires d’entrepreneurs, 6 (4), ⟨10.21494/ISTE.OP.2021.0735⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04971121

DOI: 10.21494/ISTE.OP.2021.0735

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