LOST

Uninspiring.

I thought a lot about disparity, between me and those friends of mine that used to be physically around. They are no longer, either in the Army ready to go overseas, or already overseas chasing their dreams.

I don't know what is mine, and the thought of not knowing till I die, having lived a life in fear with inhibitions without realizing the dreams I once held dear, or not having any dreams to start with, is scary.

Like the picture shows, don't know where the future is leading, where the path is taking me.

Is it doom's day for Kodak?

The story of Kodak as a faded brand will live on in new books , business school modules, and perhaps, in movies shot in the old Kodachorome format in tribute. This is not the sort of legacy a storied company that has prospered for better than a century will bequeath willingly. Yet, as it tries to renew itself under bankruptcy protection with a US $1 billion loan in its US home base, the introspection it has evoked is extraordinary. The reason is plain: the name with its associative imagery(描述) of memories and moments had woven itself into the fabric of lives across generations, not just in America but in many other cultures.

In Asia, where Japan's Fujifim did almost as much to hasten its demise, as did digital photography, again paced by such Japanese firms as Sony, Nikon and Canon-the episode might be seen in a less nostalgic light. The overriding question might well be whether American business innovation and management practices are al they are cracked up to be. it would be a hasty judgment but there is something to it.

Kodak has entered the famine phase not because it has failed to foresee the digital revolutoin that would do away with film and clunky manual cameras. even digital cameras only a decade old, are giving way to smartphones with built-in cameras. It reinforces company lore that, as the photography has now learnt, Kodak was the first to develop the digital camera, way back in the 1970s. Its digital imaging patents are its prized assets (now up for bidding) But the company wa for many years after that rolling in riches selling its staples of film, chemicals and photographic paper. It did not invest in its digital technology because it feared it would decimate its film base. This was the gap which the Japanese camera makers exploited.

The misstep could be put down to failure of management: bosses made a strategic business decision to not monetise digitalisation but to focus on film. It turned out to be the wrong gamble. Would many managers faecd with a similar challenge have acted differently?