“Nokia: An Historical Case Study”

A Paper Presented to

Mr. Narciso D. Isidro Jr. MBA

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements in

Leadership and Decision Making

Far Eastern University - Makati

December 9, 2019

Submitted by:

Buquiron, Gheremy D.

Domalanta, Christine Mae A.

Pamittan, Princess Shiela Grace C.

Ramos, Johanne Paola D.

INTRODUCTION

Nokia is a Finnish telecommunication company. It is largely and widely known

with regards their phone products. The multinational corporation started in 1865 by
Fredrik Idestam with the help of his friend Leo Mechelin. Before it was known to be a
telecommunication company, it first started as a rubber business after Eduard Olon’s
Suomen Gummitehdas. After Fredrik Idestam died, the corporation included electricity
generation which later on expanded to cable and electronics business when it joined
Suomen Kaapelitehdas Oy.

All these three, Nokia Ab, Suomen Gummitehdas, and Suomen Kaapelitehdas
Oy joined together in 1967

There came a time that Nokia was the number one phone manufacturer, however,
during 2007 Nokia failed to meet the expectation of their customers because of the
introduction of Samsung and iPhone in the phone market.
VIEWPOINT
Nokia has been a widely known Finnish company due to its telecommunication
technologies, information technology, and consumer electronics company headed by
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo in 2007. But as new competitors emerged that year, Nokia fell due
to their refusal to change design. Since Nokia failed to meet the quality standards of
their customers, the downfall continued and escalated. One of the solutions is to set
short-term and long-term goals for them to be able to compete with leading
telecommunication companies.

TIME CONTEXT
During the year 2007, Nokia failed to meet the expectations of their customers
because of the development of their competitors. They have outdated features and
failed marketing strategies so their sales started to decrease.

I. PROBLEM STATEMENT
1. Nokia had poor marketing strategies since they followed their traditional
methods such as refusal to change outdated design interface, low quality
resolution of the camera and their touchscreen.
2. Nokia lacked vision and consistency for their short and long-term goals.
3. Nokia was not able to cope up with the standards that the brand Apple and
Samsung have set thus being unable to compete with them.

II. STATEMENT OF THE OBJECTIVE

They could start by applying innovations and adjustments to their products with
regards to the interface, camera, and physical form of their products that would fit the
quality standards of the people to be able to provide a better, effective, and excellent
marketing strategy. The people involved are the employees especially the marketing
heads and their subordinates since it is their specialization. This project will take place
as soon as possible for them to bring back Nokia on top of the telecommunication world.

MEASURABLE
 This goal will be a success when Nokia will be able to go with the trends in the
society like what Apple and Samsung Company did. The employees should change
their practices and methods when working. They should focus more clearly on the
improvement of their marketing strategies. In addition, the monthly performance of the
company, after applying the innovations and adjustments, will be regularly checked to
see if the company is doing better. The overall performance of Nokia will be compared
to its competitors Apple and Samsung for this will decide if the innovations and
adjustments are beneficial to the company.

ATTAINABLE
Nokia should conduct seminars and training about marketing strategies for its
employees so that the skills and abilities of their employees will be aligned to task that
they are given.

REALISTIC
The goal is considered realistic given the data that Nokia was once at the top of
the phone manufacturers, thus they are capable of financing and supporting any
activities or projects that would help in achieving their goal.

TIME – BOUND
This project will take about 5 - 10 years to be accomplished because a lot of
trainings, seminars, and planning will be done for them to be able to reach their goal.

III. AREAS OF CONSIDERATION

STRENGTHS
  Uniqueness: Nokia produces excellent telecommunication devices and
equipment.

WEAKNESSES
 Failed to meet the preferences and expectations of their customers.
 Poor marketing strategies.

OPPORTUNITIES
 Increase in Population: As the population increases, the demand for
telecommunication products also increases.

THREATS
 Increasing number of strong competitors in the market such as Apple, Motorola,
Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Blackberry.
 The satisfaction and needs of the customers - Every day, new products are
developed which causes the change in the need and satisfaction of customers.

IV. ASSUMPTIONS
 We can firstly assume that because of their constant lead in the cell phone
brand, starting in the year 1990s, top-level managers became arrogant in
their work.
 Secondly, we can assume that Nokia omitted their competitors, Apple and
Samsung. With this omission, Nokia have failed to compete with the
smartphones both Apple and Samsung gave the people.

V. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION

1. Alternative Courses of Action 1: Nokia should conduct seminars for their
leaders to have visionary skills in order to forsee long-term goals.
 2. Alternative Courses of Action 2: Nokia should set short-term goals quarterly
and long-term goals every three years to ensure effectiveness of their mission
and vision.
3. Alternative Courses of Action 3: Nokia should seek for possible investors in
order to have a solid foundation on taking a risk for market share.

VI. ANALYSIS
Alternative Course of Action 1
Advantage Disadvantage
Training their leaders to be visionary
would help Nokia to be able to forsee and
be more focused on their long-term goals.

Alternative Course of Action 2

Advantage
By providing a new set of goals for the
short-term and long-term run of Nokia, it
would help the company to widen their
vision for the success of Nokia.
Disadvantage
Setting short-term goals are too specific
and the given time to accomplish these
goals are relatively short while setting
long-term goals makes the company
focused on one area which tends to
neglect other parts.

Alternative Course of Action 3

Advantage Disadvantage
Through seeking investors, taking a huge
Nokia will be at risk if the financial gain
risk on selling their market share would
from the investors will not be managed
be a possible gain for financial support in
well.
order to relaunch the brand.
VII. CONCLUSION

DECISION MATRIX
Legend: 1 Lowest – 5 Highest

CRITERIA / ACA ACA 1 ACA 2 ACA 3

Effectiveness 3 5 4

Efficiency 2 4 3

Easy to Implement 1 3 2

Total 2 4 3

 ACA 1 got the lowest score for effectiveness because first, it is expensive
and demands effort because Nokia does not have enough budget to support
this action. Then, it is inefficient because it would take too long to launch
thus making it not easy to implement.
 ACA 2 got the highest score for effectiveness which shows that setting new
short and long-term goals will possibly make Nokia go back to the top
position.
 ACA 3 is considered effective because getting investors would support the
company with its programs and actions. However, it is not easy to implement
since getting investors when the company is “falling” is hard since this is
where investors base their decision in investing in a company.
VIII. PLAN OF ACTION
RESPONSIBLE
ACTIVITIES TIME FRAME
PERSON
Monthly performance of the
company, after applying the
innovations and adjustments, will Supervisors Every month
be regularly checked to see if the
company is doing better.
Short-term goals:
Providing research to scale the Research and
3 months
effectiveness of setting new goals Development
Long-term goals:
within the company. Department
3 years
Meeting with all department heads
Board of Directors
alongside of the board members
CEO 2 months
and the CEO for further analysis of
Department Heads
the possible implementation.
Providing a survey for the customer
demands in order to know their Marketing Department 3 months
expectations for the company.
Enforce a series of trainings and
seminars in order to re-align the
work performance of employees to All employees
1 to 2 years
the new set of goals. It will Department Heads
strengthen their support system and
commitment to their work.
IX. RECOMMENDATION
The researchers recommend that Nokia should use the alternative course

of action 2 because it scored the highest in the decision matrix. The alternative

action 2 is considered as the most effective and efficient plan of action which is

also easy to implement. Moreover, the researchers believe that if such change

should occur, it should start within the company which is by setting new short and

long term goals.

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researchers would like to extend their sincerest gratitude to professional

individuals who contributed and helped the researchers in making this study

successful and fruitful. The researchers would to extend their gratitude to Professor

Narciso D. Isidro Jr. for his guidance and support as their subject professor. A warm

thanks to the parents and guardians who have supported the researchers in all

means throughout the course of the study. The researchers would also like to thank

their friends, classmates and schoolmates who helped them complete the case

analysis. Most of all, the researchers are thankful to God, the ever loving and

merciful creator, who has guided and enlightened the spirits and minds of the

researchers and lead them to the right path towards a productive case analysis. The

researchers would like to send their warmest recognitions to everyone who has

contributed and helped this objective be achieved.

INTRODUCTION