Canon was only a camera company when it started, but by the 1960s was moving into other markets like lenses, magnetic heads, photocopiers, fax machines, etc.
Kodak could have diversified like that too, but they didn't. They were positioned badly because they concentrated almost all their efforts on film and nothing else. Of course, part of this is probably due to American business culture compared to Japanese; Japanese businesses tend to be much more diverse and long-term in thinking, but regardless, Kodak did this to themselves.
Agreed but my additional point is that Kodak actually did branch out beyond film, and did so pretty well from a technical POV.
The problem was competing in hardware manufacturing, which is a whole different ballgame from concentrating on just the imaging aspects of it. So they were reduced, near the end, to just being really a (decent) component supplier to other companies. But that's the wrong part of the food chain to be in.
Kodak could have diversified like that too, but they didn't. They were positioned badly because they concentrated almost all their efforts on film and nothing else. Of course, part of this is probably due to American business culture compared to Japanese; Japanese businesses tend to be much more diverse and long-term in thinking, but regardless, Kodak did this to themselves.