The Formation of “Solution” for an Industry’s Self-renewal and Entrepreneurial Activity
by Koichiro Kodama
This paper determines how the “standard solution” for the self-renewal of the photoprinting industry in the face of the digitization of photography was formed. In contrast to many photo shops lacking a sense of crisis, Kitamura decided to deploy digital minilabs across its chain of stores in order to shift its business from film to digital photography. Acting on this decision, Kitamura halted the execution of its existing strategy midway, disposed of its old mini-lab machines, and replaced them with peripheral equipment that could take digital photo-printing orders. The timing of this adaptation to the market was attributed to Kitamura’s business composition and its information-processing capabilities.
In this regard, how was this decision made by Kitamura accepted by the entire industry as the “standard solution”? The main reason was that Kitamura had established its new business system well before its rivals, after which it promoted the benefits of digital mini-labs and took advantage of this gap in the market. Accordingly, the company’s rivals discarded their earlier plans and began to introduce digital mini-labs into their stores due to which digital mini-labs became the “standard solution” for dealing with the digitization of photography.
