Innovating Out of Crisis

In Innovating Out of Crisis, How Fujifilm Survived (and Thrived) As Its Core Business Was Vanishing, published by Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, California, Shigetaka Komori, FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation Chairman and CEO, recounts how he was inspired to lead Fujifilm’s journey from the brink of extinction to its current path of prosperity and growth – and a new direction.
In its recent fiscal year ending March 31, 2015, FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation reported a record profit, in spite of the loss of its core business several years ago, brought on by a rapid increase in the digitalization of photography as well as the world financial crisis in 2008. In the year 2000, photographic products made up sixty percent of Fujifilm’s sales and two–thirds of its profit.  Within ten years, however, the booming market for digital photography destroyed that business. In the midst of this, Mr. Komori guided the company through an historic transition from being a traditional photographic company into a leading global innovator.
In his book, Mr. Komori states, “The company’s core photographic film market was shrinking at a spectacular rate, and the situation was critical. Fujifilm had good management resources, first-rate technology, a sound financial footing, a reputable brand, and excellence in its diverse workforce. If all these assets could be effectively combined into a successful strategy and applied, I was sure that something could be done to save the day. The whole of Fujifilm was depending on my managerial skills to make it happen.  I was gripped by a strong sense of mission. ‘Maybe I was brought into this world to overcome this crisis,’ I thought at the time. The hair stood up on the back of my neck.”
Fujifilm is now a leading global company with business interests in a variety of industries, including:  healthcare, highly functional materials, document solutions, digital imaging, optical devices and graphic systems.  The company has been applying its unique core fundamental technologies, resulting from 80 years of research and development that began with the design and production of fine, quality photographic products.
In 2015, Fujifilm will celebrate 50 years in the United States.
Innovating Out of Crisis is now available through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, in both hard copy and e-book.