Polaroid Inc. Decision Case Study: Darden Business School Case

The Polaroid Corporation is a photographic equipment & supply company based in Massachusetts. It was founded in 1937 by a college dropout who wanted to follow his ideas of the polarization of light. By 1948 Polaroid had a strong presence in their market with the integration of the instant camera. This product revolutionized the photography and many would argue it changed a lot of aspects of society at the time. The next forty years, Polaroid's sales grew from $142,000 to $1 billion mostly on the significance of instant photography. With the firm's sales exceeding $1 billion, Polaroid was well on it's way to becoming the leader in their market with many patents on their products. But market trends started to lean towards cheaper products, leading Polaroid to venture into new projects such as copiers and movie cameras and films, which neither turned out well for Polaroid. By 1980, Polaroid was looking for new direction to improve their performance.
In the late 80's Polaroid was experiencing some financial difficulties with takeover prospects eyeing the company. But in 1986, Polaroid was awarded $900 million in a patent judgment. …