performance management case study of nokia

Nokia Change Management Case Study

Nokia is a company that has undergone significant change over the years, transforming itself from a mobile phone manufacturer to a leading player in the telecommunications infrastructure market.

This transformation was driven by a range of factors, including changes in market conditions, advancements in technology, and shifting customer needs and preferences.

However, perhaps the most important factor in Nokia’s successful transformation was its approach to change management.

In this blog post of Nokia’s change management case study, we’ll examine key strategies and tactics that the company employed to drive its successful transformation.

By examining the lessons learned from Nokia’s experience, we can gain valuable insights into effective change management and the critical factors that are required for a successful organizational transformation.

Let’s start reading.

Brief History of Nokia Journey of Change 

Nokia was a Finnish company that produced a wide range of products, including paper, rubber, and cables. It was not until the 1980s that Nokia started focusing on telecommunications equipment, but even then, it was still a relatively small player in the industry.

In the late 1990s, Nokia made a strategic decision to focus solely on mobile phones, which at the time were rapidly growing in popularity. Nokia recognized the potential of the mobile phone market early on and invested heavily in research and development to create innovative and user-friendly devices.

Nokia’s decision to focus on mobile phones paid off, and by the early 2000s, the company had become the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, with a dominant market share. Nokia’s success was due to its ability to offer a wide range of phones at different price points and to develop cutting-edge technology such as the first mobile phones with built-in cameras and internet connectivity.

However, Nokia’s dominance in the mobile phone market was short-lived. The company struggled to keep up with the rapid pace of technological innovation and the rise of new competitors, such as Apple and Samsung. As a result, Nokia’s market share declined sharply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and the company eventually sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft in 2014.

Nokia refocused on telecommunications infrastructure and services. It was a again a success story. In 2015 Nokia acquires French telecommunications equipment company Alcatel-Lucent.

What are those external and internal factors that caused change?

There were several external and internal factors that led to Nokia’s change management and transformation from a mobile phone producer to a telecommunication infrastructure service provider. Here are some of the key factors:

External factors:

• Increased competition: The rise of new competitors such as Apple and Samsung in the mobile phone market put pressure on Nokia’s mobile phone business, leading to declining market share and profits.
• Rapid technological change: The rapid pace of technological innovation in the mobile phone industry made it difficult for Nokia to keep up and remain competitive.
• Shift towards smartphones: The shift towards smartphones and the decline of feature phones also contributed to Nokia’s decline in the mobile phone market.
• Opportunities in telecommunication infrastructure: The growing demand for 5G networks and other telecommunications infrastructure services presented an opportunity for Nokia to diversify and expand its business.

Internal factors:

• Strategic decision-making : Nokia’s leadership recognized the need to adapt to changing market conditions and made the strategic decision to shift its focus towards telecommunications infrastructure services.
• Strengths in telecommunications: Nokia had a strong history and expertise in the telecommunications industry, which gave it a foundation to build on in expanding its business.
• Investment in research and development: Nokia continued to invest in research and development, allowing it to develop new products and services in the telecommunications infrastructure market.
• Acquisitions and partnerships: Nokia made strategic acquisitions and partnerships to expand its capabilities in telecommunications infrastructure services, such as the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent and the partnership with Xiaomi.

07 Key Drivers of successful change management of Nokia 

The successful change management of Nokia from a mobile phone manufacturer to a telecommunications infrastructure provider was driven by several key factors. Here are some of the most important drivers:

1. Clear Strategic Direction

Nokia’s clear strategic direction helped guide decision-making at all levels of the organization, ensuring that all stakeholders were aligned towards common goals and objectives. This helped Nokia to allocate resources more effectively, ensuring that investments were directed towards initiatives that supported the company’s long-term goals.

The leadership and employees focused its efforts on key priorities, such as developing new products and services in the telecommunications infrastructure market, and helped to minimize distractions from other activities that were not aligned with the company’s strategic objectives.

2. Agility and Adaptability

Agility and adaptability are important characteristics for organizations looking to succeed in a rapidly changing market environment. Nokia’s ability to demonstrate both agility and adaptability was key to its successful transformation from a mobile phone manufacturer to a telecommunications infrastructure provider. Nokia was able to quickly recognize and respond to changing market conditions and pivot its business towards new opportunities, such as the growing demand for telecommunications infrastructure services. 

3. Research and Development 

Nokia’s continued investment in R&D played a critical role in its successful transformation from a mobile phone manufacturer to a telecommunications infrastructure provider. By investing in R&D, Nokia was able to develop new products and services in the telecommunications infrastructure market and stay ahead of its competitors. This allowed the company to offer innovative and cutting-edge solutions that met the evolving needs of its customers. Additionally, Nokia’s investment in R&D helped the company to build a strong intellectual property portfolio, which further strengthened its competitive advantage in the market.

4. Operational Excellence 

Nokia’s focus on operational efficiency and continuous improvement was a critical factor in its successful transformation from a mobile phone manufacturer to a telecommunications infrastructure provider. By streamlining its operations and reducing costs, Nokia was able to improve its competitiveness and profitability in the highly competitive telecommunications infrastructure market. This focus on operational excellence helped the company to optimize its production processes, reduce waste, and improve product quality, which in turn helped it to deliver products and services to its customers more efficiently and at a lower cost.

5. Strong Leadership 

Nokia’s success in transforming itself from a mobile phone manufacturer to a telecommunications infrastructure provider was due in part to the strong and experienced leadership of CEO Rajeev Suri, who played a key role in leading the company through the transformation process. Suri’s leadership was critical in rallying employees around the new strategic direction and ensuring that all stakeholders were aligned towards common goals and objectives. Suri also provided clear direction and guidance to the organization, helping to steer the company through the challenges and uncertainties of the transformation process.

6. Cultural Change 

Nokia’s success in transformation is also due to cultural change. Nokia encouraged employees to be more innovative and agile in their work, fostering a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement. The company also emphasized the importance of collaboration and teamwork, encouraging employees to work together to solve complex problems and achieve common goals. Nokia invested in employee development and training, helping to foster a culture of continuous learning and development. This cultural shift helped to create a more flexible, innovative, and agile organization that was better able to adapt to changing market conditions and drive the company’s successful transformation.

7. Acquisition and Partnerships

Acquisitions and partnerships are critical tools that Nokia used to expand its capabilities and build a competitive advantage. By acquiring companies with complementary products and services, Nokia was able to expand its capabilities in telecommunications infrastructure services, giving the company a competitive advantage and helping it to build a comprehensive portfolio of products and services. Additionally, by partnering with other companies in the industry, Nokia was able to leverage the strengths of its partners to deliver innovative solutions that met the evolving needs of its customers.

Final Words 

Nokia’s successful transformation from a mobile phone manufacturer to a leading player in the telecommunications infrastructure market is a powerful case study in effective change management. By adopting a clear strategic direction, investing in research and development, focusing on operational excellence, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration, and pursuing strategic acquisitions and partnerships, Nokia was able to adapt to changing market conditions and pivot its business towards new opportunities. Ultimately, Nokia’s transformation serves as a powerful example of how organizations can successfully adapt and evolve in response to changing market conditions, leveraging their strengths and capabilities to drive growth and success in new markets and industries.

About The Author

Tahir Abbas

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Case Study 4: The Collapse of Nokia’s Mobile Phone Business

• First Online: 30 July 2018

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This chapter provides a wisdom-oriented reading of one of the most spectacular business failures of recent times: the collapse of Nokia mobile phones between 2007 and 2015. Using executive biographies and other published accounts of Nokia’s organisational patterns, the chapter attempts to offer a more balanced explanation of the processes behind Nokia’s inability to respond to the changing industry circumstances. The following analysis pays attention to the shaping of Nokia’s organisational culture. Company and its new leadership adopted a professional, no-nonsense approach in the aftermath of the problems of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The new generation of managers believed in a rational mindset supported by a bureaucratic organisational form. Leaning on a superior technological competence within the mobile phone sector, Nokia was capable of ultimately becoming the market leader. However, in 2007, with two major players, Apple and Google, joining the business, the established rules of competitive dynamics were irrevocably changed. Focus shifted to software and applications. Nokia’s risk-aversive and closed organisational culture could not respond in a situation where an open search for new innovations and a cooperative internal working mode were needed. An analysis of the development of Nokia’s organisational psyche following the emergence of a new generation of managers and executives highlights the role of local beliefs in using philosophical wisdom in critical circumstances. Nokia and its leadership were not able to abandon the outmoded habits and structures, as these had become integrated with the very identity of the company.

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Peltonen, T. (2019). Case Study 4: The Collapse of Nokia’s Mobile Phone Business. In: Towards Wise Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91719-1_6

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The Rise and Fall of Nokia

• Format: Print
• | Language: English
• | Pages: 26

About The Authors

Juan Alcacer

Tarun Khanna

Related work.

• Faculty Research
• November 2020

The Rise and Fall of Nokia (Abridged)

• The Rise and Fall of Nokia  By: Juan Alcácer
• The Rise and Fall of Nokia  By: Juan Alcacer, Tarun Khanna and Christine Snively
• The Rise and Fall of Nokia (Abridged)  By: Juan Alcácer and Tarun Khanna

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Nokia: The Inside Story of the Rise and Fall of a Technology Giant

By: Quy Huy, Timo O. Vuori, Lisa Duke

The case examines the downward spiral of Nokia, the mobile technology giant that once conquered the world, seen from the perspective of 'insiders' - based on interviews with Nokia executives at top…

• Length: 15 page(s)
• Publication Date: Sep 26, 2016
• Discipline: General Management
• Product #: IN1289-PDF-ENG

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The case examines the downward spiral of Nokia, the mobile technology giant that once conquered the world, seen from the perspective of 'insiders' - based on interviews with Nokia executives at top and middle management level. They describe the emotional undercurrents of the innovation process that caused temporal myopia - an excessive focus on short-term innovation at the expense of longer-term more beneficial activities. Nokia's once-stellar performance was undermined by misaligned collective fear: top managers were afraid of competition from rival products, while middle managers were afraid of their bosses and even their peers. It was their reluctance to share negative information with top managers - who thus remained overly optimistic about the organisation's capabilities - that generated inaccurate feedback and poorly adapted organizational responses that led to the company's downfall. The case covers the period from the early 2000s to 2010, with a focus on 2007 (the introduction of the iPhone) to 2010, when the CEO left.

Learning Objectives

After reading and analysing the case, students will understand (i) how emotional dynamics influence hard technological and strategic decisions in organizations as they translate into challenges for innovation, (ii) how emotional dynamics can undermine innovation and performance.

Sep 26, 2016 (Revised: Dec 12, 2022)

Discipline:

General Management

IN1289-PDF-ENG

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Management and Leadership: Nokia Corporation Case Study

Introduction.

Organizations need qualitative management to optimally utilize their resources. Management is the art of organizing and coordinating activities in accordance to certain principles or policies to attain forethought objectives. Management has the role of utilizing physical, human, financial, and environmental resources effectively for the good of their firms.

Managerial functions include formulation of corporate functions, organizing, planning, controlling, monitoring, and directing activities to achieve corporate goals and objectives. In contemporary organizational management styles, there has been emphasis on leadership-management approach to managerial-management approach, thought the difference is minimal the net effect is improved competitiveness and efficiency.

This paper differentiates leaders and managers; it will also discuss how leadership shapes organizational culture; to discuss the issues, the paper will use Nokia Corporation as a sample company.

The Difference between Leaders and Managers

The difference between leaders and managers is minimal, however, in contemporary management styles, the difference appears on how they handle situations and the attitude they hold for their works and subordinates. According to Ketchen & Hult, 2006, managers manage, control, monitor tasks through instructions and orders; managers assume the position of authority over subordinates.

The driving force behind managers is to see the attainment of organisational goals. When dealing with subordinates, managers are seen as people who issue instructions and controls the procedure to follow a certain way already predetermined, participation of subordinates in decision-making is minimal.

On the other hand, leaders are defined as the change agents focusing on attaining corporate goals through collective responsibilities and involvement of subordinates in decision making; leaders manage people while managers instruct subordinates (Ketchen & Hult, 2006).

Other than focusing on attainment of corporate goals, leader are highly empowering, supportive and nurturing to their subordinates and uses management policies like delegation to boost confidence among staffs. Managers’ attitude is that tasks must be accomplished irrespective of the way; but leaders have the attitude that the goals should be attained after the people are well managed and guided.

At Nokia, there has been much emphasis to have leaders as the industry is highly competitive, the quality of the leaders called for are expected to match and outdo those of competitor companies like Apple, Ericson, and Samsung who seem to be driving the market through their innovations.

Currently the company’s management can be termed as managers as they are more concerned on maintaining the company’s competitiveness without much of innovation.

Nokia Corporation Historical Background

The international phone industry is advancing fast with both multinational and domestic companies in the market. Nokia is an international phone company listed in New York Stock Exchange and Frankfurt Stock exchange, with its headquarters in Finland; according to the company’s website, the company in 2010 enjoyed a market share of about 37% and aims at increasing the market share to over 40% by the end of 2011.

It has a strong brand all over the world, the companies positioning statement is “technology connecting people”. The company’s headquarters are located in Keilaniemi, Espoo. Currently it has over 123,000 employees distributed in various countries; it has full operational branch in over 120 countries.

In 2009, the company was able to make a profit of €1.2 billion this was over 10% than what it had recorded the previous year.

In 2010, the company’s operations increased to record a revenue of €42 billion and operating profit of €2 billion; the main driver of this profits are sales of phones, which in 2010, the segment enjoyed an average of 32% of worlds phone market. The idea of the company was started in 1865 however; it became a telecommunication company in 1960’s.

Nokia is an international company that has a simple and straightforward mission statement as “Connecting People”. Its vision statement is “Our strategic intent is to build great mobile products” (Nokia Official website, 2011), this vision statement has more focus on the phone section of the company as the main business segment that the company has.

The main purpose of the company is “Our job is to enable billions of people everywhere to get more of life’s opportunities through mobile” (Nokia Official website, 2011).

To ensure that the company fulfils its vision, mission and purpose, it operates under marketing values and principles; they include innovation, products development, respect for the people and respect for research and development projects (Nokia Official website, 2011).

The current electronic market is fiancé and competitive, there are number of players in the industry that calls for Nokia to keep changing its operating policies and strategies. It has to keep changing its approach to ensure that it remains competitive.

The main competitors of the company include Samsung, Apple, and Sony-Ericson. To fight the competition, Nokia has engaged in a number of collaborations with other likeminded companies to ensure that it remains competitive. One of the recent strategic alliances that the company has made is strategic partnership with Microsoft to offer the company with the right software to compete effectively.

The drive to remain competitive and offer high returns to the company has made the management to develop new strategies that will see it succeed.

Organizational Managers and Leaders in Creating and Maintaining Healthy Organizational Culture

Nokia management has the role of building, maintaining, and enforcing positive organisational culture within its business; it has embarked on effective communication channels where staffs can share their views, inputs and standpoints with the management when making decisions.

The human resources have enacted policies that have enabled staffs to establish, develop, tap, and explore their talents, skills and intellectualism. The approach of the company is to have an innovative and outstanding teamwork; though the company has a departmental approach, the company ensures that it has teams in all sections that are mandated and empowered to conduct a certain task within the firm.

Change is inevitable at Nokia’s processes and products; the organizational culture adopted ensures that the human resources understands the need to continuous change and supports it accordingly. The structure of the company has some operational values, virtues and management operating ethics, the values are embedded in the company’s philosophy.

Nokia is divided into four main departments where every department, also called business group, is given some mandate to undertake, the departments are Mobile Phones; Multimedia; Enterprise Solutions and Networks; other than the departments, the company has two horizontal departments as Technology Platforms and Customer and Market Operations.

Neither the business group nor the horizontal department work independent, however, they are interdependent towards each other, the following chart shows the companies organizational culture:

Each manager or departmental head is responsible for his area and is expected to work for the good of the entire firm. As strategic tool, Nokia have realized the need to have an effectively managed human capital; human resources are the greatest asset of an organization.

A number of issues that hinder maximum performance of Nokia are evident in the company’s organizational culture, they include; the company does not have a clear division of power in the management, there is not sure way of saying who is supposed to do what (note this is not in all places), this leads to crisis-crossing of management powers.

For example, the marketing department has a marketing research within its frameworks, while the company has a marketing research department.

Strong informal groups operating in the company affect the company’s organizational culture; these groups shape the company’s direction sometimes negatively; for example, they have made protests against some issues in the company in a way that is not ethical or not in line with Nokia conflict resolution structure.

Sometimes the company faces some poor employee relations and work ethic issues, the issues affect the performance of the company.

The Effect of Globalization on Contemporary Management Strategies

In contemporary business environment, there is need to consider the international community when making decisions; since Nokia has an international operation, it has to consider international business environment and its effects on the business.

When managing human resources, a company has to consider human resources diversity issues like multicultural, international human resources legal administration, and employees’ relations.

Globalization has led to improvement of trade among countries, when trade is enhanced, customers are diverse and have varying needs. The management must understand the needs of the diverse customers and make policies that not only address local customer issues but the entire international community.

When making products and choosing the marketing strategy to adopt, the strategy should be internationally accepted, policies that seem to address or sell the products to certain region should not be used. When coming up with products, the company has to consider the divers income among different nations and regions; this creates a wide variety of products that costs differently.

Recommendations to Improve Organizational Culture

When an organization has positive organizational culture, it easily adopts to change, nurture invention and innovation; although Nokia organizational behavior can be applauded, the following strategies can improve the culture, they include:

Team building activities

Occasionally, the company should be having team building exercises; the activities should be organized from section, departments, and eventually the entire organization. When undertaking teambuilding activities, the management should ensure they interact with subordinates at an informal level; this will facilitate communication and sharing of ideas.

Adopt effective communication strategy

Nokia management should enact policies that continually improve communication among staffs and their leaders. With the fast growing technological development, there are new communication policies and channels that the company should adopt and boost its efficiency. In the event that there is some opinion leaders established, the management should address them directly to change their attitude (Bateman & Snell, 2011).

The success of Nokia Corporation in the competitive electronics industry can be attributed to its robust, innovative, and motivated workforce. The company’s management has cultivated a positive organisational culture that nurtures talents, invention and innovation.

Globalisation, international trade and human resources diversity have changed contemporary management strategies where polices are formulated to address issues at the international level. Nokia management appreciates the benefits and challenges brought about by a globalizing world and enact policies that enables it gaining from opportunities mitigate related risks.

Bateman, T. S., & Snell, S. A. (2011). Management: Leading & collaborating in a competitive world . New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Ketchen Jr., G., & Hult, T.M. (2006). Bridging organization theory and supply chain management: The case of best value supply chains. Journal of Operations Management, 25(2) , 573-580.

Nokia Official Website . (2011). Nokia: Connecting People . Web.

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IvyPanda. (2019, May 13). Management and Leadership: Nokia Corporation. https://ivypanda.com/essays/management-and-leadership-the-case-study-of-nokia-corporation-essay/

"Management and Leadership: Nokia Corporation." IvyPanda , 13 May 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/management-and-leadership-the-case-study-of-nokia-corporation-essay/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Management and Leadership: Nokia Corporation'. 13 May.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Management and Leadership: Nokia Corporation." May 13, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/management-and-leadership-the-case-study-of-nokia-corporation-essay/.

1. IvyPanda . "Management and Leadership: Nokia Corporation." May 13, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/management-and-leadership-the-case-study-of-nokia-corporation-essay/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Management and Leadership: Nokia Corporation." May 13, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/management-and-leadership-the-case-study-of-nokia-corporation-essay/.

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The Rise and Fall of Nokia

By julian birkinshaw , lisa duke.

The case describes Nokia’s spectacular rise and fall, shedding light on the combination of external factors and internal decisions that resulted in the company’s handset business being sold to Microsoft in 2010.During the successful period of growth (roughly 1990 through to 2006), Nokia’s focus on design and functionality gained it a worldwide reputation. It was acknowledged as the first smartphone manufacturer. Through the early-mid 2000s it was the undisputed leader in the global mobile phone business. The case traces the first signs of trouble and the company’s subsequent decline over the period 2005 to 2010. Pressure in the early 2000s from low-end competitors led to early signs of problems. Then of course the game changed in 2007 with Apple’s iPhone and a year later with phones powered by Google’s Android operating system from HTC, Samsung and others. Nokia was initially dismissive of these new offerings but its proprietary OS, Symbian, was ageing badly and its App store (Ovi) was no match for Apple’s. In September 2010 it was announced that American Stephen Elop, formerly of Microsoft, would become CEO. Not long afterwards a partnership with Microsoft was signed which subsequently led to Nokia’s handset business being sold to Microsoft.

Learning objectives

• Understand why good companies go bad; in other words, see how the assets that enable companies to succeed can also be liabilities when the market turns against them.
• Provide insight into the nature of disruption in an established industry and why incumbent firms struggle to adapt.
• Examine the different paths companies should take to respond to disruptive forces.
• Understand the leadership challenge for executives when their performance starts to decline2. To understand the dynamics of change in a fast-changing industry.
• Identify strategies companies can use to adapt quickly to disruptive changes.

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The Real Cause of Nokia’s Crisis

• Michael Schrage

Nokia’s technology isn’t a root cause of its current crisis. Don’t blame its engineers and designers either. The company still knows how to innovate. There’s a simpler and more strategic explanation for why this once-perennial market leader became second-rate. Nokia ignored America. The company simply refused to compete energetically, ingeniously and respectfully in the U.S. […]

Nokia’s technology isn’t a root cause of its current crisis. Don’t blame its engineers and designers either. The company still knows how to innovate . There’s a simpler and more strategic explanation for why this once-perennial market leader became second-rate.

• MS Michael Schrage , a research fellow at MIT Sloan School’s Center for Digital Business, is the author of the books Serious Play (HBR Press), Who Do You Want Your Customers to Become? (HBR Press) and The Innovator’s Hypothesis (MIT Press).

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Supply chain agility: Nokia’s supply chain management success

Nokia did not start manufacturing phones until 1982. The company's interests and businesses were diverse: Telecommunications, consumer electronics, rubber, and cable kept it busy until 1992, when it gave its telecom business all its attention and focus and closed down the others. By making this strategic decision, Nokia became a global leader in telecommunications by 1998.

A history of adaptation in supply chain management

Industry experts have been fascinated by Nokia's ability to manage and adapt its supply chain over almost 150 years. According to the experts, the secret is its supply chain management and its long-term relationships with its suppliers, which make the company ideal for case studies.

The Harvard Business Review published such a case study in 2012 (subscription required). Throughout the study, we learn how Nokia's effective chain of command, its well-placed crisis plan, and an aggressive, multi-pronged strategy helped it avoid production losses for its new cellphone when a March 2000 fire damaged its entire supply of semiconductor chips at the Royal Philips Electronics plant.

Having a strategic risk management plan in place can help you avoid, or at least alleviate, financial difficulty. In a world where supply chain disruptions are simply inevitable, handling them successfully can lead to a happy. The Harvard Business Review case study contrasts Nokia's supply chain management success with the not-so-successful ending the Swedish company Ericsson experienced (with serious financial consequences) when losing its semiconductor chip supply in the same fire delayed production of its new mobile phone.  

Lessons from Nokia on supply chain agility

A research paper published in the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management in 2006 points to the ways that Nokia Networks' demand planning can make supply chain networks more agile. The authors take lessons from Nokia's integrated project management program, which is based on the implementation of a “truly customer-focused delivery process.”

The researchers found, “Supply chain agility does not just happen but requires continuous planning,” something Nokia Networks has mastered.

According to the paper, there are several ways companies can implement agility into operations:

• Promoting the flow of information with suppliers and customers
• Developing collaborative relationships with suppliers 
• Designing for postponement
• Building inventory buffers by maintaining a stockpile of inexpensive but key components
• Having a dependable logistics system or partnership
• Drawing up contingency plans and developing crisis management teams

Building Nokia's global supply chain management success

Since 1995, Nokia's SCM approach has been to create the most efficient supplier network in order to offer the best solutions and meet customer expectations. The pillars for the company's success include:

• Creating value-based partnerships with suppliers backed by factual information
• Flexibility 

“Making the impossible possible through collaboration” is one of the company’s well-known and often-used mottos. Following this approach, it has made its supplier network a central element of efforts to reach its corporate objectives:

• Great products
• Operational excellence 
• Customer satisfaction

Nokia's leadership philosophy responds to four elements: head, heart, hands, and sisu (a Finnish word that may be roughly translated into English as “guts”). That last one plays an important role in making the impossible possible at Nokia.

Below, Max Sjöström from Nokia Oyj talks about gaining a competitive advantage with supply chain.

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How fear of change, lack of innovation led to Nokia’s failure?

International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy (2687-2293)

The aim of the paper to investigates the reason for business failure using Nokia as a case study. The paper applies the explanatory conclusive research design since there are cause and effect relations that seek to provide a better understanding of the reasons for the market failure. The mobile manufacturing sector is the most interesting and innovative of all in the “Information & Communications Technology” sector (ICT). Nokia was once known as the market’s dominant company, leader, and pacesetter until it underwent a tremendous market failure. The aim of this research is to shed light on Nokia’s failure in the market due to its complacency & fear of change, lack of innovation moving too slowly in terms of being too late in making decisions & inventing of the iPhone. Paper elaborately discusses and analyses the failure reasons supported by a literature review in addition to the characteristics of this industry and its market structure. Finally provide advice for business makers

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ramanajaneyulu pokathota

Nokia was a synonym for the mobile phone industry for a long time; however, when it came into the era of smart phones, the former leader was under an awkward situation. Nokia sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft on September 3, 2013. A company following Kodak with the legendary color failed in the impact of the new technology revolution. This was a typical case of the subversion of an industry; therefore, the author believed that it was necessary to analyze the process. This paper studied Nokia's decline mainly from the three parts. First of all, looking back Nokia's development process from the glory to the decline, it can be divided into three stages: the transition period, the peak period and the decline period, followed by analyzing the reasons of its decline from three parts: Nokia executives' grasp for the market, the company's business strategy and business cooperation, and finally analyzing its inspiration for modern enterprises from the marketing perspective.

Business History

Towards Wise Management

Tuomo Peltonen

From: Peltonen, Tuomo (2018). Towards Wise Management: Wisdom and Stupidity in Strategic Decision-making. Springer.

Raluca Leustean

Microsoft will take over Nokia's Devices and Services business, which includes both Smart Devices and Mobile Devices. In other words: The Lumia, Asha and X series are now all under Microsoft's umbrella. Design teams, supply chain, accessories, employees, developer relations and most of Nokia's manufacturing plants and testing facilities are also on Microsoft's side, as are most of the company's services like MixRadio, Store and more. Here, Nokia's mapping entity, is considered a separate business and isn't included as part of the deal, but Microsoft has agreed to a 10-year licensing agreement. On the one hand, Nokia's decision to sell its mobile phone business to Microsoft is a Finnish tragedy. At Nokia's best times, this giant contributed a quarter of Finland's economic growth for past 10 years: it paid 23% of Finland's corporate taxes. On the other hand, getting out of the mobile phone business sector is a probable blessing for Nokia. Life is tough nowadays for second-tier smartphone companies. Nokia's global market share in the mobile phone market has dropped to 14 percent (from 19.9 percent a year ago, according to Gartner). The revenue of the company brings in from its devices and services division is down by more than half since 2008.This paper is aimed to show why Nokia had to be saved by someone external, both from the technological and financial point of view.

Mateus B O L D R I N E Abrita

The mobile phone devices industry, whose structure is an oligopolistic technological frontier, suffered a structural change in the 2000s, with firms once leaders giving way to emerging ones. This study's hypothesis is that this chance happened due to different innovation strategies adopted by the firms. The objective is to analyze innovation strategies' influence on business performance of the industry's firms in general, with Apple, Nokia and Samsung cases in particular-considered representative firms of the industry for the period. The methodology used was the game theory, comparatively analyzing two games with Nash-Bayesian equilibrium. The results show that, in the face of an aggressive strategy of innovation by products of the first firm (Apple), there is a worse outcome for the company that competes by innovations by product (Nokia) than by markets (Samsung). It is concluded that companies should pay attention to their innovative strategies to remain operative in dynamic markets. Resumo: A indústria de dispositivos de telefonia móvel, cuja estrutura é de fronteira tecnológica oligopolista, sofreu uma mudança estrutural na década de 2000, com firmas antes líderes perdendo espaço para firmas emergentes. A hipótese do trabalho é que as diferentes estratégias de inovação adotadas pelas firmas foram responsáveis por essa mudança estrutural. O objetivo do trabalho é analisar a influência dos tipos de inovação no desempenho das empresas da indústria em geral, e da Apple, Nokia e Samsung em particular, firmas tidas como representativas. Para tanto, utiliza-se como metodologia um modelo com base na teoria de jogos, analisando dois casos. Os resultados, sob equilíbrio Nash-Bayesiano, evidenciam que, em face a uma estratégia agressiva em inovações via produtos por parte da Apple, há um pior resultado para a empresa competidora que decide competir com inovações via produtos (caso da Nokia) do que a que compete em inovações via mercados (caso da Samsung).

Dr. Netra Pal Singh

Ramzi Dziri

Technology and Investment

Kshitiz Soni

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