I’m only 22 years old so I don’t know much about running a small business, let alone a fortune500 company but one thing I have is common sense and can point out when there’s a pattern. Kodak filed for bankruptcy sometimes last week and to me, it’s sad to see a pioneer like this company, falling because of a simple mistakes. The most obvious mistake is that the company did not get into the digital age at the right time and when they finally made the leap, it was fucking horrible. If you take a look at any digital product from them, they’re usually bulky and the products feel 2-3 years behind its competitors. I notice that companies who pioneered or paved the way into certain industries when that industry is changing, they fail to adapt, or at least to get their feet wet on time, and usually get left behind until they can’t keep up anymore. Of course, at this point, they have to file for bankruptcy. In recent years we’ve seen it happen over and over again to companies who fail to take advantage of the new age. Blockbuster is my favorite example of that, the company was the leading DVD rental and they got too comfortable and failed to realize that the market was shifting. This simple yet complicated and powerful box, called a computer, changed the world drastically in the past 10 years. If Blockbuster had been thinking ahead and seen it coming (which I don’t see how they didn’t) they would still been the leader in that field today. They had every single advantage from being a household name to having brick and mortar advantage which companies like Netflix and Hulu are still missing to this day. The Internet changed a lot, more than a lot of us would guess 10 years ago but at the same it doesn’t take a genius to realize after Napster, Winmix that the way we listen to music, watch videos and movies would change drastically over the decade. The folks at Apple saw it coming, Jobs, founder of Apple, understood how this was something to take advantage of and did.

Why would these companies hesitate to get on board? Well, for companies, getting on board with anything new is never an easy move because they have to change their whole formula or at least modify it. Some companies also believe in what they stand for so much (which can be good or bad) that they fail to realize when the market is not going to be on their side. Instead of branching out they pretty much say what your grandparents say about your smart phone, “It’s too complicated, mine does the job just fine.” While it might have worked for your grandparents, it won’t for companies because their goal should be to make a profit while trying to offer the best product to fit the market they trying to please. Sticking to your roots might work in certain industries like baking a cake but for technology it has never been that way and never will be. From when people had those bulky phones that they can only use in their car to us having a pocket size device that’s more powerful than any computer that came out 10 years ago, consumers have always wanted the latest, fastest and most powerful when it comes to technology. If you’re in that market and not thinking 10-20 years ahead you might just want to start selling cupcakes instead.

Another problem is companies fail to hire young people who, of course, are more open-minded and have different views. When I was in HS I noticed a need for MP3′s at my school but most 14-17 year olds refused to pay $200- 300 for an iPod at the time (around 04-08) so I got on the computer and started outsourcing for cool alternatives to solve a problems and, of course, feed my pockets… Within a week I found some Chinese website with some decent ones. I quickly ordered a dozen and next thing I know I was selling more and more, making roughly 1K a week in profit (which is why sometimes I want to stab the 15 year old me for wasting my money, FUCK YOU YOUNGER ME). The point I’m trying to make is older folks usually don’t know what’s going on amongst younger generations. So the smartest thing for them to do is to have us, the young people, on their team and with our understanding and their experiences, companies can prosper. In my opinion your staff is better off being balanced, when it come to age difference than having only old heads. No one understands young people better than other young people.

I’m sure there are other problems like lack of resources and good marketing strategies that can lead down the path of bankruptcy, but pioneers usually don’t have those problems, at least not as much as new companies do, because they are household names and have less to do for appeals unless they branching taking a brand new market..

Ok my fingers are freaking tired now so I’m done, if you have any comment let me know what’s your take on why these pioneers are slowly going out of business..