Management Hall of Fame
Most Respected Management Gurus

George Eastman  - Eastman Kodak - The Portal Camera (1854-1932)

• "You push the button, we do the rest". (George Eastman)

Key Work

• Starts work at the Rochester Savings Bank
• Takes up photography
• Patents a dry plate and a machine for mass-producing it.
• Takes Henry A. Strong as partner & incorporate Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co.
• Developed KODAK The portable camera thus converting a complex scientific process that was restricted to few specialists and turned it into a commercial mass-market product.
• Implement "Wage dividend" strategy and create a work force ownership, remuneration and benefits programs launch him into more success.
• Hands one-third of his company holdings to the employees.
• Eastman photographic empire grew from one assistant to over 13, 000 employees.

Management history remembers him as an enlightened manager who introduced business practices that, till today, are being implemented as a core competitive advantage by leading global companies.

Books & References:

• Aclerman, Carl W., and Edwin R. Seligman. George Eastman: George Eastman: Founder of Kodak and the Photography Business (Business Biographies). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1930.
• Brayer, Elizabeth. George Eastman : A Biography. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
• The Story of Kodak. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1990.

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