Nokia : failed to innovate

 

               Nokia was the first company in the world to create a cellular network. The Finnish company was the global leader in cellphones in the late 1990s (Asslaid, 2019). With the popularity of the internet and the increased use, other communication companies recognized that data is the “future of communication.” The company didn’t grasp the idea of establishing a new operating system or software and kept focusing on how to improve its hardware technology. The reason was the fear that customers may move away if the cellphone usability changed. That was the worst decision made by the Nokia management group. But this was just the start (Asslaid, 2019).

               When Steve Jobs launched the new revolutionary apple phone, iPhone, Nokia didn’t realize the importance of software and user interface (Asslaid, 2019; Barr, 2020). The failure and arrogance of Nokia’s management continue by launching in 2008 an operating system, Symbian, to compete with iOS and Android, believing that its consumer loyalty will keep the company as the leading global company in the new market of software and apps. The new Nokia’s innovation caused the company’s profit to drop by 30% in the same year (Asslaid, 2019; Barr, 2020).

               In 2013, Nokia had no other option but to be sold to Microsoft for $7bn (compared to Nokia's highest worth of $300bn in 2001) to creates Windows smartphones (Barr, 2020). But again, it was a complete failure as there was room to compete with Apple and Samsung. In 2017, Microsoft sold Nokia to Foxconn, where the latter tried to revive the brand by using Android. Nokia is still facing severe challenges, and it has a lot of work to do (Barr, 2020).

The Sociotechnical plan is based on the basic concepts of the interaction between social and technical elements in an organization (Cepoi, 2019). In this case study, the challenging social force was that upper management at Nokia lacked the creativity to produce a process between the team members and management to understand community (social) requirements. The challenging technical force was integrating software apps. The ease of download from the Apple Store or Play Store helped increase iPhone and Samsung market share, keeping Nokia’s Symbian as one of the unfavorite Mobile operating systems.

References

Aaslaid, K. (2019). 50 examples of corporations that failed to innovate. https://www.valuer.ai/blog/50-examples-of-corporations-that-failed-to-innovate-and-missed-their-chance

Barr, B. (2020). Nokia: What went wrong? https://medium.com/thoughts-economics-politics-sustainability/nokia-what-went-wrong-c342c237a069

Cepoi, V. (2019). Interplay of Social Forces: A Focus on Regional Innovation Processes. The Social Sciences, 14: 423-430. DOI: 10.36478/sscience.2019.423.430