The digitalization of photography rendered incumbents
competences obsolete and altered industrial relations. While
Kodak was unable to abandon the chemical material and
process technologies, Fujifilm invested in its optical and
imaging technologies and broadened their applications to
products in the medical, graphic, and even life science
domains [67]. Although Fujifilm still sells photographic film,
the company responded to digitalization by shifting its
chemical photofinishing business into digital photo printer
manufacturing. Fujifilm's pattern of paradigm transition is
similar to that of Canon but it was made more difficult by
Fujifilm's deep roots in film-related technologies. Konica
merged with Minolta in 2003, and the new company left
the consumer camera and film market to dedicate itself to
commercial printing, along with optical and imaging technologies
for healthcare, sensors and measuring instruments.
These three companies followed similar strategies to survive
the technological transition, but adopted different strategies for
film-related chemical material process technologies.