By Olubunmi Adebayo
*We present for our reflections today, the story of three great companies that failed to embrace change when necessary, and ended up destroying themselves :*
*1) _KODAK_.*
*If you don’t belong to the Gen-z, then you would have heard about Kodak before.*
*For decades, Kodak ruled the global photography industry: If your family wanted to have a birthday, a vacation, or a wedding program, Kodak film was there.*
*The company was so powerful, it seemed untouchable.*
*But here is the shocking part.*
*Kodak actually helped invent the digital camera.*
*But instead of embracing it, they feared it would kill their film business.*
*So they hesitated while the world moved on.*
*By the time smartphones and digital cameras took over, Kodak was already too far behind.*
*The company that once defined global photography, ended up in bankruptcy.*
*2) _BLOCKBUSTER_.*
*Before streaming ever existed,Blockbuster was a weekend ritual.*
*Families stepped in, walked the aisles, picked out movies, and rented video games for the night.*
*Then Netflix came along and offered to work with them.*
*Blockbuster said no.*
*They believed people would always want physical rental stores.*
*That one decision changed everything.*
*Netflix grew into a global giant, while Blockbuster stores slowly disappeared over time, one by one.*
*3) _NOKIA_.*
*There was a time when Nokia seemed impossible to beat.*
*Its phones were everywhere, known for strong batteries, tough designs, and loyal customers.*
*At one point, it controlled nearly 40% of the global phone market.*
*Then smartphones came and changed everything.*
*Apple and Android introduced touchscreen phones, apps, and a completely new way to use a device.*
*Nokia saw the shift but reacted too slowly.*
*Their last big move – the Windows Phone, failed badly in just a few years : because they embraced change too late, and one of the most powerful tech companies on earth lost almost everything.*
*The lesson is clear, but brutal :*
*If a company (indeed anyone) ignores the future, the future eventually leaves it behind.*
*Tomorrow, God willing, we shall look at the technical details of what happened to the three companies that buried them.*
Top of the day to you 👍
©️ Olubunmi S Adebayo.
