[_ph_]

Not only did Kodak invent the digital camera, at the end of the 90ies, it was on the top of the digital camera market. Both Nikon and Canon cameras used to be available in a Kodak digital version. These were the first professional DSLRs. It took Nikon and Canon some time to come up with digital solutions of their own. Only in the mid 2000s, Kodak basically decided to exit the digital camera market, and the rest is history.

[throwaway2048]

In the end Kodak's film processing business was way larger than the entire modern digital camera industry. It employed hundreds of thousands of people in the USA alone.

There was no replacing that, ever, even if they transitioned to the digital age, it was over for kodak.

[LeifCarrotson]

Sure, but even if the equipment and low-level employees were in film, they had the brand and engineering to be at the forefront. And if anyone could have known that digital would be the future, it was Kodak. is this institutional blindness and resistance to change a sort of sunk cost error on a massive scale?

[sogen]

It's the error of milking the (cash) cows.

[HarryHirsch]

Kodak spun out their chemical arm as Eastman in 1994. It was clear that there was going to be trouble ahead anyway, the main line of the business was polymers, and they were coming under increased pressure from Asia.

[intrasight]

Nikon and Canon didn't have film empires to protect.

Also of note in this context is that Kodak invented LCD projectors and viewfinders.