Professor Douglas Rae uses Polaroid's rise and collapse as a case study in capitalist dynamics, part of Yale's course Capitalism: Success, Crisis and Reform. The lecture opens with video of former Polaroid CEOs, then moves through the company's business model, corporate culture, and vertical integration strategy. Rae analyzes key decisions on product lines and mergers, arguing that Polaroid's obsessive focus on scientific innovation crowded out market research and product development. He traces the company's failure to adapt to one-hour photo processing and the digital photography revolution, and closes by weighing what steps, if any, might have saved the firm. The discussion treats Polaroid as a lens on broader patterns of corporate success and failure under capitalism, with attention to how firm culture and R&D priorities shape long-term survival. Recorded in Fall 2009 as part of Yale's Open Courses series.