Kodak Shifts its Emphasis to Western China

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 10, 2002

Kodak Shifts its Emphasis to Western China

The Kodak Co. has decided to convert its office in Chengdu into a regional headquarters, an indication of Kodak's growing optimism and confidence with respect to western China.

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The Kodak Co. has decided to convert its office in Chengdu into a regional headquarters, an indication of Kodak's growing optimism and confidence with respect to western China.

The new headquarters in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, will be responsible for business expansion in the northwest, southwest, northern, northeast and central parts of China, said Chen Yaorong, General Manager of Kodak's Civilian Photo Products Sector.

Chengdu was the obvious choice for the regional HQ due to the fact that it exceeds all other capital cities in western China in terms of gross domestic product and because it serves as the financial, commercial, scientific, technological, transport and telecom center for the region. The city is playing an increasingly important role since China launched its campaign to accelerate development in western China, Chen said.

Kodak has adopted strategies that reflect the consumer patterns in western China, for example, building more color film printing shops in the region and offering promotions on certain products. Customers, for instance, are willing to purchase a camera and four rolls of Kodak film at a promotional price of 99 yuan (11 U.S. dollars).

In addition, as part of its promotion strategy, the company has donated 3,000 cameras to pupils in remote and poor counties in order to promote photography. Statistics show that only 10 percent of rural Chinese households own a camera, compared with 60 percent in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Since 1994, when Kodak built its first color film fast-printing network in China, the network has expanded to include 7,800 shops in 700 cities.

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