The Rise, Dominance & An Epic Fall : ​Nokia

Chinmayee Choudhury
Anjali Sharma
Kaoushik Ramachandran
Pooja Udeshi
Pernika Gupta

​ Executive Summary

We can trace the journey of development of Nokia from the year 1865 to 2013,which includes
construction of a wood factory by Fredric Idesta and then the introduction of the first radio phone that led
to the first GSM call by a Nokia handset and then there was a launch of the first digital handset with the
addictive “Snake” game .Then, eventually Nokia lost control in the smartphone market .After it’s decline
it collaborated with Microsoft and then finally the company was taken over by Microsoft.

The various objectives of nokia :

1. To grow more and capture the market share.
2. To offer a wide range of desired mobile phones so that the customers get attracted and stay loyal.
3. To create and maintain relationships that will satisfy individual and organizational objectives.

Nokia’s newly released high end phones are differentiating itself from the crowd and the highly
competitive mobile communication industry is primarily emphasising on technology, fun spirit, and ease
of use are clearly evident of the positioning of the brand on people’s mind.Nokia’s devices are context
enriched and the brand also offers valued consumer solution which leads to a good consumer relationship.

The most significant milestones in the history of Nokia:

Nokia has announced one of the most significant milestones in its history with the sale of its 1.5 billionth
Series 40 mobile phone. The device was sold to a female consumer in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo and
it represents a historic moment for Nokia as they continue battling amongst the front runners in the
smartphone genre. The 1.5 billionth phone that was sold was a Nokia Asha 303, which is a touch screen
handset with “QWERTY” keypad designed for web browsing, social networking and gaming, and also
the features pre-installed entertainment and applications, such as Angry Birds Lite. The device was
purchased from a Magazine Luiza store in Sao Paulo by Mayara Rodrigues. Nokia Brazil, Vice President,
Almir Luiz Narcizo, and retail network President, Luiza Helena Trajano handed over the phone to Mayara
Rodrigues.

Achievements

● The company was ranked #1 in the durables segment for the second consecutive year by Business
World in its annual survey of Most Respected Companies in India. ​[2006]
● Ranked Asia’s most trusted brand in 2006 by the Media-Synovate survey. The survey was aimed
at gauging Asia’s top 1000 brands across fifteen product and service categories. ​[2006]
● Ranked #1 in the durables segment for the second consecutive year by Business World in its
annual survey of Most Respected companies in India. ​[2006]
● Ranked fourth in the Most Trusted Brand Survey by Brand Equity. ​[2007]

About Nokia
Nokia is a Finnish multinational corporation founded on the 12 May 1865 as a single paper mill
operation. The name ‘Nokia’ was derived from the town of Nokia in Finland.
Through the 19th century the company expanded, branching into several different products. In 1967, the
Nokia corporation was formed. In the late 20th century, the company took advantage of the increasing
popularity of computers and mobile phones and became the market leader in the early part of the 21st
century.

Company: ​Nokia
Tagline: ​Connecting People
Founders:​ Fredrik Idestam, Leo Mechelin & Eduard Polón
Country of Origin:​ Finland
Founded: ​12 May 1865; 154 years ago
 Headquarters: ​Espoo, Finland

Key People:
Risto Siilasmaa (Current Chairman)
Rajeev Suri (President and CEO)

Nokia Mission, Vision & Values

Mission Statement

Everyone has a need to communicate and share. Nokia helps people to fulfill this need and we help people feel
close to what matters to them.

Vision Statement

“Our vision is a world where everyone can be connected. Our vision is to ensure that the 5 billion people are
always connected at every given point and to achieve 100 fold more network traffic.”

The Beginning
It all started when Fredrik Idestam ( who was a Finnish mining engineer and businessman , who then
became the founder of Nokia) built a mill for manufacturing paper , in Southern Finland in the year 1865
. After this he built another mill which was located near the town of Nokia​:on the banks of the
Nokianvirta river​- in the year 1868.​ This gave Fredrik the idea to name his company nokia .
Meanwhile, in 1898, Eduard Polón founded Finnish Rubber Works & Arvid Wickström came up with
Finnish Cable Works in 1912. Finnish Rubber Works acquired Nokia in 1918 to make sure that it had
access to the latter’s hydro-power resources. However later in 1967, Finnish Cable Works was also
acquired by the newly formed conglomerate.
All the three companies were then jointly owned however they continued to work on their own until 1967,
when they were finally merged and Nokia Corporation was born. The main focus of the newly formed
company was mainly on four markets: paper, rubber,cable and electronics. It then developed things like
toilet paper, bicycle and car tires, rubber footwear, TVs, communication cables, robotics, PCs, and
military equipment, among others.

Growth of Nokia
Nokia grew beyond leaps and bounds in the 19th century and in the 1960s the company branched out
into electronics .In the next two years it developed various electronic devices which included radio
telephones for the army . It created Mobira Oy in a JV with Finnish TV maker Salora ( which was their
initial step into telephony ) and created the world’s international cellular network- Nordic Mobile
Telephone (NMT) service . In the 80s it launched its first car phone called the Mobira Senator .
After five years of successful launch of Mobira Cityman , it launched its first mobile phone that could be
run on the company’s NMT network . This device was 800 gms and was priced at $6,308 and had hit cult
status when Mikhail Gorbachev ( The then leader of Soviet Union USSR) was captured using this device .
The Dominant Years :

The 90s were the beautiful years in the lifespan of Nokia .

Nokia entered into a joint venture with leading Scandinavian color TV manufacturer Salora in 1979
and created Mobira Oy which was a radio telephone company. After few years , Nokia came up
with the world's first international cellular system, which linked Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and
Finland. After this it came by the launch of the company’s as well as world’s first car-phone named
Mobira Senator, weighing at around 10 kg.

Nokia then acquired Salora in 1984 & changed the name of its telecommunications unit to
Nokia-Mobira Oy. In the same year Mobira Talkman was launched , which was projected as one of
the first transportable phones. It weighed around 5kgs .
After three years , Nokia introduced its first compact phone called Mobira Cityman 900, which was again
the world's first hand-held mobile telephone.It weighed around 800g costed around $5,456 . It made a
huge success

This cellular became very famous and was nicknamed as ‘ The Gorba’
as the then Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev used it to make a call from Helsinki to Moscow
during a press conference in October 1987.

The year after brought a difficult phase for the company as it witnessed sharp drop in profits
leading to severe price competition in the consumer electronics markets . It was then ,when, its
chairman Kari Kairamo committed suicide reportedly due to stress.
The company was later divided into six segments by the new leader , namely
:telecommunications, consumer electronics, cables and machinery, data, mobile phones, and
basic industries, while divesting other units like flooring, paper, rubber, and ventilation
systems. Nokia-Mobira Oy became Nokia Mobile Phones in 1989

In the 1990s the company’s data, power, television, tire, and cable units were sold off in the
first few years of the decade, as it was decided to focus only on telecommunications market .

In 1991, the world's first GSM call was made by the then Finnish prime minister, Harri
Holkeri, using Nokia equipment. After this the next year company’s first hand-held GSM
phone Nokia 1011 was launched.

It had a talk time of 90 minutes and was able to store 99 contact numbers. It was also known as
Mobira Cityman 2000.

After a few years , the company launched its ​2100 series​ of phones, with its iconic Nokia Tune
ringtone. Nokia was able to sell 400,000 units, the series turned out to be a huge success with
around 20 million handsets sold across the world .​Nokia 9000 Communicator​ was launched in
the year 1996. It was known as The ‘all-in-one phone’, which costed $800 and allowed users
to send emails, fax, and browse the web, besides offering word processing and spreadsheet
capabilities. However it wasn’t very successful .
In also launched ​the Nokia 8110​ slider phone in the same year . It was nicknamed as "banana
phone", the device featured in the popular 1999 science fiction action film ​The Matrix​.

Becoming The World leader

The company was able to become the world’s leading cellular phone maker by being able to
sell around 40 million cellular phones of the Nokia 6100 series in the year 1998. This helped it
surpass Motorola and lead the market . The classic and most fascinating part of 6100 series was
the pre-installed Snake game . It’s net sales increased with around 50% ,the operating profits
shot up nearly 74%, and the stock price skyrocketed a massive by 220%, this resulted in an
increase of market capitalization from nearly $21 billion to around $70 billion.

In 1998 the company launched Nokia 8810 which was the first phone without an external
antenna. The flagship was its first phone with chrome slider shell .

In the next year the company came up with its 3210 series which was a solid handset that came
in six color variants and had a very impressive talktime of 4-5 hours .
 It offered various additional offerings such as extra ringtones and games , it also allowed
pre-installed short messages with pictures for greeting purposes such as ‘ Happy Birthday’
‘Good Morning’ , etc .via SMS .

Around 160 million units of these handsets were sold and it became very popular and
successful phone in history .

​The 2000s - a new era

​Even after being a world leader till then in the mobile phone industry , the new era brought alot of
challenges and difficulties to face . The wireless and internet technologies were also converging and
the 3rd generation of wireless technology was evolving which promised enhanced multimedia
capability .

To respond with the changes , this Finnish company started churning out both low-end and
sophisticated multimedia handsets . In the year 2001 we saw the company launching the 7650 series
which was the one with in-built camera . It was also the first with full color display .

This was followed by the launch of its (as well as the world’s) first 3G phone mu, ​the Nokia 6650​, in
2002.

The same year, the company also came up with ​the Nokia 3650​ which was the first Symbian
Series 60 device to appear in the US market. It was also the company’s first phone that featured
a video recorder.
 In the year 2003, the company launched ​the Nokia 1100​. It was a budget-friendly phone that
saw a tremendous sales of 250 million units which made it the best selling phone as well as
the best selling consumer electronics product in the world. As an amazing coincidence this was
also the company’s billionth phone sold later in 2005.

In the year 2003 it launched unorthodox-looking N-Gage device . Running Symbian OS 6.1
(Series 60), the phone/hand-held gaming system wasn’t much successful commercially as only
3 million units were sold.

In the next year , it launched the 7280”lipstick” phone . It was in the part of the company’s
“Fashion Phone line”, the device was listed as one of the best products of the year by Fortune
Magazine. It also featured in the Pussycat Dolls' "Beep" music video.

In the Midway of the decade, the company launched its N-series of phones, with ​the N70​, ​N90​,
and ​N91​ being the first members of the series. The flagship ​N8​ was launched later in 2010.

Apple launched its first generation iphone in 2007 and following the trend of touch-screen phones , nokia
launched its first all touch smartphone in 2008 . It dubbed the 5800 Xpress Music . It was also the first to
run the touch-driven Symbian v9.4. It was quite successful as Nokia was able to sell around 8 million
units of the device however it wasn’t able to create a die-hard fan following as its touch-experience was
sub-par
The Business Group & Industry :

Mobile Phone Industry:

From luxury items to now an integral part of all our lives, cell phones now fuel an industry touching all
corners of the world. The mobile phone industry is the fastest growing sector in the larger
communications industry today. Along with internet coming in, the mobile industry has been immensely
growing. The primary engagement of a cell phone industry is to manufacture mobile handsets. As we talk,
the mobile industry plans on moving forward technologically. It is considered one of the fastest moving
industries in the world which is growing along with the up and coming technologies and innovations
building on the progress of smartphones and a lot of other features made in recent years.

During the year 1994, cell phones became much more popular. The number of users of cell phones today
is 182 million. This means that cell phone industry is not something which will easily fall. This also
means that, with 182 users using a product, innovation needs to be added at periodic intervals. Innovation
and technology are the key elements of the cell phone industry. Without these, the firms will not be able
to sell their only product.

Not only the technology, but also the physical design of the cell phones have gone through roller coasters
of change and makeover. The bulkiness, shape, size, various colours have brought a lot of difference in
the sales and has increased the customer base. The mobile phones are becoming sleeker which makes the
user feel comfortable to use and carry them around. Researchers believed that cell phones will be capable
enough to be in sync with our biological reflexes and processes, such as eye movements, face recognition,
finger prints, kinesthetics movements and others. This has come true with all the major players including
Apple Inc, One Plus, Samsung, etc. using face recognition, fingerprints as ways to keep phones locked
and secured. They also have come up with applications which track the health of the user by measuring
heartbeats, tracking footsteps etc.

With the rising digital literacy and technological advancements around the world, innovations including
smartphones have been gaining a lot of footfall in the market considerably in the recent most years. Also,
with the emergence of the large smartphone companies offering a variety of advanced features in their
products like dual sim phones and high speed processors.
Market players of smartphones have been always engaging in continuous strategic partnerships which
result in high competition. Furthermore, the rise in penetration of the local brands of smartphones is
resulting in the market to become one of the most volatile industries of all time.
Adding to that, the rise in digital literacy and surging purchasing power of consumers, particularly in
economies like India and China, the market demand of smartphones will continue to rise.
Lets now see the major players of the industry and what is their contribution to the cell phone industry.
Major Players in the Industry:

1. Apple Inc.​ : Apple, a US- based technology and innovative company which focuses on
designing, developing and selling online services, computer software and consumer electronics.
Apple has always focused on launching innovative designs in software and hardware ever since
inception in 1976 by Steve Jobs. It has almost over 1,23,000 employees worldwide with over
500+ retail outlets across the globe. Its latest product is the iPhone XR which was launched in
September 2018. This product was manufactured by integrating breakthrough technologies from
iPhone Xs with features including a next gen Neural engine, Face ID, TrueDepth camera system
and an advanced camera system. Apple recorded a revenue of USD 229 Billion in 2017 and made
its mark in the largest smartphone companies in the world by market share.

2. Samsung​: It was founded in 1938 and has its headquarters in South Korea. Samsung has gained
the highest share amongst the largest smartphone firms across the world. It has always offered a
wide range of services and products across several industries. It has been quite a trend setter in
the smartphone industry with its innovative offerings. The recent most product launched by
Samsung is the Galaxy A9, the world’s first smartphone with a quad lens rear camera on October
11, 2018. It has immense features including Birxby Virtual Assistant, fitness tracker Samsung
Health and payment service Samsung Pay.

3. One Plus​ : One Plus Technology Co. Ltd, is a chinese smartphone manufacturer based in China.
It was founded in 2013 and ever since inception it has been offering various products including
smartphones, powerbanks and accessories to the smartphones. The company has its presence in
over 34 countries and is serving its customers by providing high range smartphones through
various and unique marketing programs including the buyback program, student ambassador
program and referral program. The company has a significant presence in both online and in-store
retail channels which strengthens its market position as the largest smartphone company in the
world. In May, 2019, the company announced its latest premium device, One Plus 7 Pro which is
unique and stands out.

4. OPPO​: The company was established in 2001. It retained its position in the largest smartphone
companies in the world owing to the product ranges it offers. The products include, smartphones,
electronic devices and Blu-ray players. The company focused on strengthening its expansion
plans considering the continuous rise in demand for the global rugged smartphone market from
the emerging economies in the APAC region including India and China. As a result of this, OPPO
announced its plans of setting up the first research and development centre in Hyderabad.
 Initiatives like these gain traction with the Make in India initiative taken by the government for
offering a huge variety of products to the customers.

5. VIVO ​: Vivo was established in the year 2009, it is owned and directed by BBK Electronics.
Vivo focuses on the manufacturing and sales of smartphones, smartphone accessories, online
services and software. The development centres of the company are spread in the advanced areas
of China which employs over 1600 research and development professionals . Vivo is one of the
top 10 largest smartphone companies owing to the increasing acceptance of its smartphones
among the generation Y and Z consumers. Seeing the rising demand from the millennial customer
segments of the Indian Market, Vivo entered the Indian Market by launching its mobile in
September 2018, V9 Pro. The product came with a wide range of advanced features which got a
lot of traction from the customers.

Refer Exhibit I for Market Share (2008)

Refer Exhibit II for Market Share (2017)

Nokia’s Contribution to the Mobile Industry:

Nokia was one of those companies which started the trend. It had captured almost the entire market in
terms of selling mobile phones to the consumers. It made the first move and launched the Nokia 1011
in 1992. This was the first commercially available cell phone that was operated on the GSM network.

The various models and styles launched by Nokia attracted a lot of customers and the sales went up at
a very increasing rate. It had contributed almost 30 % of the market share of the mobile phone
industry.
Today, Nokia’s market share is less than 5%.

Nokia was the first company to come up with various features with were new in the entire market.
This gave them a lot of applause and they were shining in the market. They launched a lot of products
that created a stir in the market. They also launched games like ‘Snake; it looks laughably simple and
easy when compared to today’s range of games that are offered like Candy Crush, PubG and many
others. They all owe a tip of the digital cap to Nokia’s vision of telephone as a gaming device.

But what led to the drastic decline in the market contribution. The refusal to adapt and adopt
technological changes led to such a situation of Nokia and now it has been trying to pave its way back.

Refer Exhibit III for Sales Report and Profit over the years.

Coping with the Changes

It's true that "Change is the only constant". We can see how people fear or dislike change.Coping up with
changes in life is just like adjusting to the change in weather.I think we should treat every change in life
as a better opportunity that's coming our way.

Now let's see how Nokia coped up with all the changes over the years:

Nokia didn’t always do telecommunications and electronics. It started off in 1865, as a pulp-mill before
getting into rubber. It made flexible cables, and the company was good at adapting to change, too. And in
the latter part of the 20th century, Nokia expanded itself into phones and it became the global market
leader. It invented something that cost a little over £100, that everyone in the whole world wanted or
needed and, every few years, could be convinced to buy a new version of. As a business idea, it was
pretty much the best one ever. ​Whenever we turned on to one of Nokia's legendary handsets, we got the
same thing: that famous signature logo i.e holding hands.And for more than one generation, it was
hand-holding Nokia did best by carrying people through, bit by bit, the mobile revolution.​Nokia were by
no means the first company to release a commercially available mobile phone, but it was the first to do it
really well, and with true mass appeal.Nokia was so dominant. People didn't talk about any brand, it was
just about the number “3210” or whatever you had. They took users on a journey.

A concise timeline of changes that occured in Nokia:

1. In October 1998, Nokia became the best-selling mobile phone brand in the world and became
very much successful.
2. Nokia’s operating profit went from $1 billion in 1995 to almost $4 billion by 1999 and it was
victory moment for Nokia.
3. The best-selling mobile phone of all time, the Nokia 1100, was created in 2003 with much
expectations.
 4. In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone and expected to give a tough competition to all other
mobile brands.
5. By the end of 2007, half of all smartphones sold in the world were Nokias, while Apple’s iPhone
had a mere 5 percent share of the global market but then the tables turned.
6. In 2010 Nokia launched the “iPhone killer” but failed to match the competition as it lacked
innovation.
7. The quality of Nokia’s high-end phones continues to decline and faced high resentment from
users.
8. In just six years, the market value of Nokia declined by about 90% which was a very big issue.
9. Nokia’s decline accelerated by 2011 and is acquired by Microsoft in 2013.
10. Nokia’s demised from being the world’s best mobile phone company to losing it all by 2013.

The reasons for which it did not adapt to change and witnessed a fall :

1. At that time Nokia suffered from organisational fear.

2. The organisational fear was grounded in a culture of temperamental leaders and frightened middle
managers.
3. The middle management was scared of telling the truth because they feared being fired.
4. Top managers were afraid of the external and outside environment and not meeting their quarterly
targets.
5. Executives were afraid to publicly acknowledge the inferiority of Symbian, Nokia’s operating
system.
6. They knew it would take several years to develop a better operating system that could compete
with Apple’s iOS.
7. Top executives were afraid of losing investors, suppliers and customers if they acknowledged
their technological inferiority to Apple.
8. Top managers intimidated middle managers by accusing them of not being ambitious enough to
meet their goals.
9. Top management was deliberately lied ​to​ by middle management who felt it was useless to tell
the truth.
 10. Top managers lacked technical competence which influenced how they could assess
technological limitations during goal setting; by comparison, the top engineers at Apple were all
engineers.
11. Instead of allocating resources to the achievement of long-term goals such as developing a new
operating system, Nokia management decided to develop new phone devices for short-term
market demands.

Microsoft learned from Nokia’s mistakes and changed its culture for its own good.

In 2014, Satya Nadella became the current CEO of Microsoft, following Bill Gates and Steve
Ballmer.The most important change that Satya brought to Microsoft was shifting the company’s culture.
He says that his job as CEO is to create a culture that focuses on listening, learning, and harnessing
individual passions and talents. Satya also placed employer empowerment at the core of Microsoft’s
culture.Company culture is not to be taken lightly. In fact company culture is a major factor that
contributes to the company’s development and ability to compete and be successful.
Although Nokia has been doing a little better, there is still a fair amount of concern and hesitation with
Nokia’s progress. It may be improving and progressing, but its not quick enough. There has been a lots of
metaphors floating in and around about Nokia, saying that they should take the Pill and go on Android,
yelling on the streets mentioning that Symbian was a sinking ship and that Microsoft was a Lifeboat that
kept them afloat and should stick with ​WP​. All great and lovely metaphors, it appears that only time will
tell if Nokia will Jump ship however it has been stated clearly that Nokia is focusing on their Lumia
product line and with the Lumia line up they’ll attack the big dogs of Android and iOS and Nokia will
follow through on that plan. According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Android is the leader in the US
Markets while iOS and Windows are growing more popular and gaining reputation at a faster rate
​Business Group & Society

Nokia has always taken social and environmental responsibility and has shown a keen interest in
sustainability.
The concentration of Nokia has been on environmental sustainability across its own operations. The
company has been working hard to reduce power consumption and energy use across our product
portfolio and the various customer networks.

Benefits to Society

The technology of Nokia improves lives by providing access to education, information, better
healthcare, and economic opportunity, facilitating a safer, smarter and healthier planet.

A spokesperson at Nokia mentioned, “The technology we provide can help create a more equitable
society by connecting the unconnected”.

The company’s interest in the society and the environment was one of the main reasons why Nokia could
capture a huge market share.

Nokia’s Environmental Policy

Nokia's environmental policy consists of the following criteria with importance to the environment.

1. Bio materials. The Nokia C7 uses bio paints. ​It’s the first mobile device in the industry to do
so. The Nokia C6-01, E7 and N8 use bioplastics for up to 49 per cent of their structural plastic
parts. Crude oil and vegetable oils are used to make these biomaterials. They also have a much
lower environmental impact.
2. Recycled materials.​ Nokia C6-01 is the first mobile phone to use recycled metals. For stainless
steel, Nokia requires 75 per cent recycled content. The alloy of Copper, Nickel and Zinc used in
other parts of its construction is required to have 98 percent recycled metals.
3. RFR-free​. Nokia was one of the first companies to make mobile handsets RFR free. The handsets
have historically contained flame-retardants based on bromine, chlorine and antimony trioxide
that refuse to decompose after use, thus raising environmental concerns. Nokia has voluntarily
phased out the use of BFRs (those based on bromine) and all other rFRs across its product
portfolio. The company hasn’t used PVC since 2006.
4. Low energy.​ The OLED displays which are one of Nokia’s new phones feature offer the same
brightness for less power. The low energy LEDs are efficient power savers and have ambient
light sensors that adjust the brightness of the display to use less power in low light environement.
5. Nokia’s chargers​ aren’t just any other charges as per their appearances – they have the lowest
standby power consumption amongst other mobiles and are extremely efficient while charging.
Over the last decade, the no-load power consumption of its leading chargers has actually been
reduced by 95 per cent.
6. Print and packaging.​ Nokia has reduced the amount of printed documentation that comes with
your new phone. As the company has been more oriented towards the environment, the use of
electronic user guides on the device itself has been encouraged to the users. In a move to save
100,000 tons of paper materials, Nokia’s boxes have been smaller and less glossy than it
 previously was. This move halved the number of trucks required for distribution. This made
Nokia phones very eco-friendly.
7. Nokia’s take-back programme​ has 5000 collection points across 85 countries. Nokia initiated a
process to recycle the material of old phones. 100 percent of its materials are recyclable and the
company made use of the old phones’ material and reduced newer raw material stating its interest
in the environment.

Addressing Environmental Concerns for Sustainability

Nokia’s vision is a world where people connected through Nokia’s technology can contribute to
sustainable development. The main focus of the company was to shape the global industry and drive best
environmental friendly and socially acceptable processes.

This vision is substantiated by a number of initiatives for environmental sustenance by Nokia.

A few prominent ones are given below:

1. Manufacturing complaint with the European legislation (Restriction by RoHS for the use of
certain substances).
2. Nokia’s devices, chargers and headsets are PVC free since the year 2006.
3. Nokia is committed to getting rid of raw material which is not environmental friendly. The
phasing out the use of Brominated and Chlorinated compounds and Antimony Trioxide is one
such example.
4. AC-8, Nokia’s most energy-efficient charger till date consumes only 0.03W in no-load Mode,
saving power equivalent to 1,25, 000 energy- saving 15W, light bulbs for a year.
5. Nokia has the largest voluntary mobile phone recycling scheme in the world.
6. The company uses 25 per cent renewable electricity in its premises. This has lead to a reduction
in carbon dioxide emissions.
7. As the tagline “Connecting People” reads out well, the company encourages employees to use
video and teleconferencing as much as possible to replace travel.

Agreement with Top Mobile Manufacturers

Nokia took major steps towards protecting the environment in 2007. The company signed a voluntary
agreement based on the results of the European Commission’s Integrated Product Policy pilot project on
mobile phones. The project focused on finding how the mobile phone industry can reduce the
environmental impact of its products throughout their life cycle.

The agreement includes three key commitments:

1. Produce an index of environmental facts for each mobile product to enable consumers to compare
products easily.
 2. Increase consumer communications about unplugging the chargers and safe disposal of phones.
3. Include a default on-screen message on all new products to unplug chargers once the phone is
fully charged.

Nokia’s Involvment in Social Development:

● Nokia is developing mobile technology solutions to aid social development. By working with a
Non Profit Company iNdT, Nokia is focussed on tackling a wide range of issues and providing
benefits to these problems. Some of them include education and health to disaster relief,
environmental conservation and the creation of livelihoods.
● For example, in South Africa, Nokia, the government’s department of education and a
not-for-profit organization called Mindset Network announced the launch of ‘M4Girls’. This was
an innovative pilot project to improve the mathematics performance of Grade 10 girl learners
using Nokia 6300 mobile phones loaded with educational material.
● In partnership with Vodafone, Nokia launched a new wiki website—www(dot)ShareIdeas(dot)
org in the year 2007. Addressing social and environmental challenges were discussed by
encouraging people to make use of mobile communications technology.
● Nokia Helping Hands programme encouraged its employees to give their time to community
projects they care about through the Nokia Helping Hands programme. Many of the company’s
employees volunteered in the year 2007. From 30 different countries, a total of over 32,000 hours
of activities which included - building schools, cleaning beaches, collecting toys, supply of
clothes and other necessities for the needy, and activities for the elderly & children.

Youth Development
Teamwork, leadership and conflict management programs are taken into account as Nokia supports youth
development programmes. This was among disadvantaged young people in around 40 different countries.
Nokia’s partners include Plan International and the International Youth Foundation whose collaboration
spans a variety of different causes, based on local needs.

A Responsible Organization
Nokia has shown responsibility and taken necessary action when required. In 2008 after the discovery of a
defect in the BL-5C series of batteries, Nokia immediately recalled the defective lot and ensured users’
defective batteries were replaced at no additional cost. An awareness campaign was run by Nokia
regarding the same through audio-visual and print media.

Users can check if their mobile’s battery is from the defective lot or not even today on the company’s
website. This has created a sense of trust and faith in the company thus making it a responsible
organization.

Achievements
Nokia has achieved a lot of milestones and awards, especially in the early part of the 21st century.

The major achievements and awards of Nokia include the following:-

● Won the Golden Peacock Award for the Nokia 1100, which was selected as the most innovative
product in the telecom segment. ​[2004]
● Nokia India has been ranked as the overall No. 1 telecommunications equipment vendor
(including wireless infrastructure) in the country by Voice & Data for four consecutive years.
[2004-2007]
● Named “Brand of the Year” at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Brand Summit held in
Chennai. ​[2005]
● The company was ranked #1 in the durables segment for the second consecutive year by Business
World in its annual survey of Most Respected Companies in India. ​[2006]
● Ranked Asia’s most trusted brand in 2006 by the Media-Synovate survey. The survey was aimed
at gauging Asia’s top 1000 brands across fifteen product and service categories. ​[2006]
● Ranked #1 in the durables segment for the second consecutive year by Business World in its
annual survey of Most Respected companies in India. ​[2006]
● Ranked fourth in the Most Trusted Brand Survey by Brand Equity. ​[2007]
● Ranked the leading MNC in India by Business World, India’s top business weekly. [2007]

Recent Awards and Recognitions of Nokia

● “Are You Well” wins 2017 Finnish Security Innovation Award [Dec 2017]
 ● TelecomAsia Readers’ Choice & Innovation Awards: CEM Innovation of the Year [Nov 2017]
● Telco Data Analytic Awards [Nov 2017]
● Broadband Award 2018: Best Fixed Access solution [Oct 2018]
● ITU Telecom World Awards [Sep 2018]

Major Events

Nokia states that they are creating a new era of communication , as they are coming up with new varieties
of phones . they stated that 5G will enable a fourth industry revolution by connecting to us ever more
things around us .

There were many events which took place in Nokia company right from the beginning .Some of the
major events and activities carried on by nokia are as follows:
Environmental concern:
The company is trying its best to protect the environment and spread awareness among the public . One of
the major activity related to environmental concern is Nokia and Emirates Environmental Group (EEG)
rolled out the Take - Back Programme to increase the awareness about the opportunities to recycle old
mobile device and accessories . And it was known that only 3 per cent of people recycle their mobile
phones, despite the fact that most have old devices are lying around at home that they no longer want,
according to a global consumer survey released by Nokia . In the UAE, around 65 per cent of people said
that when thinking of recycling, they do not think about their old and unwanted mobile phones. 59 per
cent admit that they did not know if it is possible to do so.
Nokia is strengthening its take - back capability in the UAE to cover all its service centers in the country .
Consumers can also drop off their phones either at the EEG office or at any Nokia branded stores across
the UAE.

Indianizing Services :
Nokia India’s focus on the Indian consumers that has made the subsidiary a billion - dollar organization
global corporation, particularly when world leaders are rarely open to localization of their products and
strategies .For most of them, the term ‘glocal’ is more a smart management term that is used to glorify the
image of the company than a pointer to act Local.
For Nokia India, however, glocal has become more of a habit. In its first experiment with localization in
1998, Nokia believes it created a bond with the India consumers with tunes like Saare jahaan se achcha in
its 5110 model and with the tagline “Nokia- Connecting People”.
In 2000, its first Hindi userface in the 3210 model gave Nokia the confidence to target its
product development efforts at the Hindi - speaking population. The next year, Nokia introduced the
Hindi text messaging facility in the 3610. But in 2006,Nokia India became more Indian than ever before.It
launched two models-1100 and 1108 that had been developed specifically for India, after intensive
research on the Indian customer’s specific needs.

The phone gave an integrated torch,a sheath-covered keypad for dust protection and a slip - free grip. The
models were creations of Nokia’s Entry Business Unit, a team created to focus exclusively on developing
products for markets with high population and low penetration.India,apart from China,Indonesia and
Africa, was one of the top-priority markets.

The strategy worked. Nokia’s first ‘Made for India’ model,the 1100, was the largest selling model in the
Indian GSM handsets market. Some of its features, like the torchlight, have become standard in models
like the 3112 CDMA handset.

Nokia’s market share has gone up from 58.2 per cent in July 2003 to 59.6 per cent in July 2004.The five
largest selling handset models in the market are all Nokia’s. Besides , the company in 2008 has a
substantial share of both ends of the market.

Cashing in on Music​ :

Nokia generally had its focus on music. The company had a lot of tie ups with various music companies
for the same. Various offers were given initially on its music in order to make people aware about its
products and its related features.The Finnish mobile handset maker has Mou with leading music content
providers and music companies for rolling out its virtual music stores in India. The company has tied up
with around 150 music companies, including Universal Music, Warner Brother, Sony BMG and other
national players .
Nokia offered the service in India with a free one - year subscription on purchase of select Nokia handset.
Similar services launched in the UK on 5310Xpress music device were showing good response from
music lovers in 2010.

The Nokia N- series, the premium multimedia sub brand of Nokia has joined hands with India’s leading
fusion artist Rabbi Shergill to premiere his new music album in digital format on its N - series devices
soon. This marked the First ever launch of a complete music album on a mobile handset prior to its
physical launch which was an innovative idea.

Titled Avengi Ja Nahi, were made exclusively available across India for a month on the iconic Nokia N-
series multimedia devices: the N95, the N70 music edition and the N73 music edition since June 2009.

Nokia India’s format may be different from the one in the UK as people’s preferences in the two countries
are different but even after great disparities the company tries to fulfill the needs of the customers. Also,
unlike the Uk, in India the service has to be made compatible on low - end handsets for a better
interaction with customers. The service helped in boosting the handset sales as the service allowed users
to download and store unlimited songs on their mobiles and computers even after the subscription expires
during 2009-11.
6th June 2019 : ​Nokia was hosting an event in India and has launched two phones . The Nokia 9
PureView was launched globally at Mobile World Congress (MWC 2019) earlier this year , and this penta
lens camera setup smartphone is the only major Nokia branded device which was announced at MWC
2019 but is yet to reach the Indian shores .

The Nokia India event was at 11:30 am in New Delhi . The Company has been rolling out a host of
teasers running up to the launch , the teaser is based on the phone that has a waterdrope style notch and a
face unlock . The finnish company is using hashtag #GetAhead that suggests some compelling features on
the new model . Nokia is also Hosting a global event in Italy on the same day .

3rd July 2019: ​ Nokia’s digitalization of its 5G Oulu factory recognized by the World’s Economic Forum
as an “Advanced 4th Industrial Revolution Lighthouse”.
Espoo, Finland is the Nokia’s 5G”factory of the future “ in Oulu , and it was selected by McKinsey and
the World Economic Forum as an advanced 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) Lighthouse , reflecting
leadership and success in adopting and implementing 4IR technologies . Leveraging of Nokia’s
technologies to digitalise its own pre - production facilities demonstrates Nokia’s ability to digitally
transform and modernize its customers manufacturing facilities for industry 4.0 .

CSR activities :
Nokia was engaged in various Corporate Social Responsibilities activities related to environmental
concerns , youth development, social development etc. Some of the major and remarkable activities
carried on by the company are given below.
Nokia’s vision just as the tagline suggests “Nokia- Connecting People” is a world where everyone is
connected and can contribute to a sustainable development.
.

The environmental sustenance by Nokia are :

❏ Manufacturing complaint with the European legislation (RoHSo-restricting the use of certain
substances)
❏ Since 2006, devices , chargers and headsets are free of PVC.
❏ Phasing out the use of Brominated and Chlorinated compounds and Antimony Trioxide.
❏ AC-8, Nokia’s most energy efficient charger till date consumes only 0.03W in no- load mode,
saving power equivalent to 1,25,000 energy- saving 15W, light bulbs for a year.
❏ Largest voluntary mobile phone recycling scheme in the world .
❏ Uses 25 per cent renewable electricity in its premises, leading to a reduction in carbon dioxide
emission.
❏ Encouraging employees to use video and teleconferencing as much as possible to replace travel .

Nokia has a leading hand in social development:

Together with INdT (a non- profit research organization in the Amazon), Nokia is developing mobile
technology solution to aid social development and the company aimed to provide benefits across a wide
range of issues, from education and health to disaster relief, environmental conservation, youth
development and creation of livelihoods.

Learnings :
Nokia was a market leader with more than 50% of global market share in smartphones.The journey of
Nokia company was like a roller coaster with a lot of ups and downs in it. They were the dominant market
leaders , so let us take a deep understanding of what went wrong and what are the learnings of Nokia
company .

1) Spend money on Research and Developments: ​Nokia was mainly focused on the quality of
products that it sells to its customers. Nokia continuously invested its money on research and
develop and came up with interesting technologies that weren’t feasible or well matched to the
specific needs of customers. The learning of Nokia company was they invested money in R&D
but failed to understand customer wants and needs.
2) Marketing and sales: ​Because of the strong culture and engineering focus in the company Nokia
lacked strong marketing savvy . They believed that the products will sell themselves and there
was no need for heavy investments in marketing and sales department. The learning here was no
matter how great the product is the products don’t sell themselves. There should be awareness
among people about the product they produce.
3) Ignoring the Trends: ​ Nokia was very slow when it came to customized phones. The US market
demanded customized phones and Nokia didn’t go well with local carriers and this was the reason
why the market share of Nokia declined rapidly. Understanding the customer needs and fulfilling
 their needs is very important. Learning : Knowing the market trends at the right time and right
pace was what lacked behind. Market awareness plays a very vital role.
4) Not Developer friendly :​ Symbian was not app developer friendly. It took a lot of time for
Symbians to develop an app . App store was a single largest business invention which was non
existent when Symbian was leading smartphone OS. The other developers didn’t get much
opportunities for the same. The learning here was they should develop Apps according to the
needs of the customers , which are easy to use and fulfill their needs .
5) Unwillingness to change: ​One of the biggest reasons for failure was the unwillingness to change
. Nokia being the largest manufacturer of mobile phones with a global market share of 50 per cent
came down over the years due to its unwillingness to change . Adapting new technologies and
advancements is very important in today’s world. Nokia should have gone with the market trends
and could still be a market giant today.
6) Over confident: ​Nokia was over confident that the touchscreen will not be adapted by the market
and the users will shift back to keypad hence they didn’t pay much attention to it . They thought
this was a temporary shift in the market to try something new and the users will come back to
nokia in some time. But this did not happen that way and they lost their customers forever. They
should adapt change in the market in order to grow.
 The Epic Fall

In the year2001, the first time Nokia’s profit crumbled after becoming the world leader in it . It was
mainly due to the slowdown in the mobile market .Initially the downfall was short lived but after thre
years in 2004 the company again reported that its market share is sliding , despite still with the solid 35%

Next the similar scenario could be seen when in 2007 the company had to recall a tremendous 46 million
faulty cell phone batteries . The batteries that were manufactured between 2005-end and 2006-end
adversely affected the company’s portfolio .

In the year 2008 when Android version 1.0 was launched then Nokia’s Q3 profits dropped 30% while the
sales decreased 3.1% . At the same time iPhone sales shooted up by 330% during the same period .

In 2009 the company had to lay off 1,700 employees worldwide . later, the struggling company
acknowledged that the company had slowed down because of being unable to react to the change in
the market and the same time companies such Apple and Blackberry and there were new entrants as
well like LG, HTC and Samsung .

In the next year, the ex head of Microsoft's business software division was appointed as the new
CEO of Nokia. He was the first non-Finnish leader of the company. The job cuts continued even
after a rise in 2010 profits. Elop became famous for a speech that he had delivered in early 2011 to
Nokia employees, where he compared the company's market position to a man standing on a burning
platform.

In order to survive in the market and compete with customers, the company announced a strategic
partnership with software giant Microsoft to make Windows Phone it's primary mobile OS

Soon after that, there were rumors spread that Microsoft is in talks to acquire Nokia. At that time it
was told to be completely Baseless and a rubbish. In between this, Apple overtook Nokia in
smartphone sales in 2011.

The Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 smartphones were then launched in 2011
Even though the company had managed to cross market expectations by selling more than one million
units of the devices in only a couple of months, job cuts had continued. Meanwhile, to save more
expenses, Nokia also announced the closing of its oldest factory in Finland and had also announced that it
was shifting the manufacturing unit to Asia which had become Nokia’s largest market by early 2012.

In spite of decent amount of sales, the new Windows Phone devices didn’t do a lot for Nokia in the first
quarter, 2012, this was followed by company facing an operating loss of a whopping €1.3 billion. This got
another round of job cuts affecting almost around 10,000 employees this time.

Later that year, they launched Windows Phone 8- powered Lumia 920 flagship, which got mixed reviews
and was mainly criticized for the bulkiness and large size. In November 2012, Windows Phone 8- Lumia
920 became the best selling phone of the week on Amazon and had also topped Expansys’ chart in the
UK. Despite of all these recognitions, it still never reached the sky rocketing sales the company needed to
pave its way back to profitability.
Finally, the year 2013 brought Nokia some good news as they turned towards profit in six
quarters of bleeding money. However, the revenue dropped and decreased because of the
company’s failure to make any dent in the smartphone market.

In September 2013, Nokia announced it’s selling the Devices & Services division to Microsoft.
The deal that saw CEO Stephen Elop return to Microsoft had also included the Finnish company’s
patents and mapping services, although it did not include the Nokia’s Chennai factory in India along
with the Masan Factory in South Korea. The sale officially completed in April 2014.
Exhibits & Sources

1) www.nokia.com
2) https://www.nokia.com/about-us/
3) https://www.gsmarena.com/the_rise_dominance_and_epic_fall__a_brief_look_at_nokias_history
-blog
4) https://www.bgr.in/news/a-brief-history-of-nokia-from-a-paper-mill-to-the-worlds-biggest-mobile
-company-to-being-acquired-by-microsoft/
5) https://www.comparably.com/companies/nokia/mission
6) https://blog.technavio.com/blog/top-10-largest-smartphone-companies
7) https://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/03/tech/mobile/nokia-phones-contributions/index.html
8) https://www.digit.in/slideshows/12-mobile-phones-that-define-nokia-s-contribution-to-the-industr
y-1.html
Exhibit II

Exhibit III