CEO Hall of Fame
Most Respected CEOs & CEO Hall of Fame

George Eastman, CEO of Eastman Kodak - The Portal Camera (1854-1932) - USA

• "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.