I am sure a number of you would have seen the mailer from Nokia CEO this week to his employees. In case you have not seen the mailer it is available here:
This mailer has evoked a debate among the corporate circles with people saying it was the right thing to do and some others saying that this was not needed. I will attempt to present my point of view here.
I had the privilege of working with Nokia in their global headquarters in Finland for 30 months and I really admire this company and feel sad for the current state of affairs. I actually would support Steve's candidness and guts to call spade a spade and present the realistic albeit gory picture to all the stakeholders. I am sure he would have evaluated the fall outs of this mailer and has taken this conscious decision. This is just the beginning and he being the new kid on the block at Nokia we will need to wait and watch how he goes about strategising and executing the revival of Nokia in the coming months.
Nokia is really a 'burning platform'. Their products today are no where near Apple's iPhone which was introduced as early as 2007. In a consumer market where a few months can make or mar a market leader, being 4 years behind the competition is hardly a enviable position. Their Symbian platform is far outdated and keeping it any longer will only lead to demise of Nokia in the face of competition from iPhone and Android. Symbian was meant for a different age and has far outlived its utility.
Even if I were Steve I would do the following to regain the confidence of all stakeholders in Nokia:
1) Customers: Nokia has lost market share and is rapidly losing market share as we speak. As as CEO of Nokia I would not worry about the next 3-6 months loss of customer market share. I would look at the long term revival and regaining the position as the numero uno brand for customers. If I have an action plan say for releasing the new models of Nokia phones on a Windows platform in 2 quarters from now which will be a formidable competition for iPhone then I better let my customers who are drifting away from Nokia know that there are exciting phones coming from Nokia. Even today there are Nokia aficionados and many of them might postpone the decision to buy an iPhone if the Nokia road map is known to them. The customers are also fed up of poor quality of products and customer service and if they know that Nokia’s CEO is very serious about getting back Nokia to the numero uno position and means business and will take tough calls then it is only ‘Nokia Brand’ which will gain from this exercise in the long run. Nokia was a brand which had 80% market share in the past and it has the wherewithal to get its act right if given the right strategic direction and operational focus by its CEO
2) Employees: Employees know about the crisis that the organization is in and I would believe they would love the candidness of Steve. In a technology company with hundreds of mobile industry thought leaders who do realize that they are behind the competition and missing the bus, it is no secret that Nokia will not exist unless it changes the rules of the game . This message from Steve will help foster a common cause and a sense of unified direction to its employees and will motivate/ give a sense of purpose to the stars to fight the battle which lies ahead of them to garner market share by developing world class products. As far as the prospective employees are concerned it will give a message that Nokia is on a serious revolution path and a movement to set things right and it would inspire leaders who are keen on taking up challenges and changing the rules of the game to join Nokia and make a difference and be a part of the future success story.
3) Investors: The Nokia stocks are not doing well in the market and the market share us plummeting. If it continues this way it is only a matter of time when Nokia declares bankruptcy. It is a great move by Steve to garner the support of all stakeholders including investors by including them in the war to regain the lost ground and making it transparent to all of them. This is the only way he can get the support of the shareholders when he takes the next steps ( which are likely to result in some blood bath in terms of taking decisive and concrete steps like changes in top management layer, layoffs, closing down dud businesses etc.)
4) Society: Nokia is a household name in Finland and contributes substantially to the GDP of the country as well as participates in a number of CSR initiatives across Finland. At one point on time it employed 10% of the Finnish population. This message provides a pointer to the society that not all is well with their favourite and assures that concrete and tough actions are being taken to bring back their favourite company to the top of the charts!
"I actually would support Steve's candidness and guts to call spade a spade and present the realistic albeit gory picture to all the stakeholders. I am sure he would have evaluated the fall outs of this mailer and has taken this conscious decision."
ReplyDeleteSo would you have chosen to express yourself with the same candor that Elop did? From your blog title, you indicate that you might have done something differently...
I would certainly have expressed myself with the same candour as Steve did. The only thing which I would have done differently was to not only tell that there is a problem but also give a direction and way forward to the team which will motivate them and give them the comfort feel that they are in hands of a good leader.
ReplyDeleteDeepak,
ReplyDeleteYou mean to say, instead of one memo, it would have been better, had he given four versions of his vision to four stakeholders of his company.
I totally agree with you that if the road map is know to customers, they might even postpone and wait for the Nokia smart phone which can compete with iPhone. There are many who are vexed with the "closed" nature of iPhone, while Nokia phones are known to have more of an "open" nature for apps to be built.
Hi Deepak
ReplyDeleteGreat to stumble on your blog. I do appreciate the strategies proposed but for some reasons couldnt help myself getting drawn into some unfocussed thoughts.
Customers: If Nokia gives a sturdy handphone to its customers; how long would it like each of its handset to last? 6 months; 1 year; 2 years; 5 years?
Corporate Resonsibility: How much toxic waste Nokia would like to add to the world by luring customers to give up their current non nokia phone for nokia and how much waste would it like to add by luring customers to dump their old Nokia phone and buy new cutting edge technology nokia phones?
Will it be a good idea for Nokia to limit its cell phone business and get into some more sustainable and society friendly product? Will it be like Macdonald adding low calory green food items to its menu? :)