Introduction
Companies and other organizations put into strategic action initiatives that direct organizational change and contribute to accomplishing strategic goals. The ability of a workforce to be competent, knowledgeable, and equipped with the resources necessary to implement an effective strategy is essential for successful strategic execution. It is crucial to allocate resources, such as separating the workforce into areas of expertise and departments, establishing formal lines of authority, and devising systems to coordinate the many duties performed by the company (Lamberg et al., 2021). However, the growth of organizations and the rapid pace of market environments present strategic challenges. These challenges can take the form of issues concerning leadership, legal or legislative issues, environmental challenges, challenges concerning human resource management, challenges concerning research and product design growth challenges, or potential financial problems. The Nokia Corporation, its history, the market industry it operates in, its mission and vision, and its leadership are investigated in this study. In addition, it examines the company’s primary strategic obstacle, which is a barrier to the organization’s development.
The history, Vision and Mission, Purpose and Value, Potential Competition and Leadership of Nokia Company
The mill operation that would eventually become Nokia Corporation was established in 1865. After having a presence in a wide variety of industries throughout its history, including cable, rubber boots, televisions, tires, papers, and most recently, mobile phones, the firm has successfully carved out a niche for itself in the technology sector over many years. According to researchers’ findings, Nokia completed its transition into the telecommunications business in the 1990s (Morton et al., 2018). By 1998, the company had established itself as the mobile phone brand with the highest sales volume, the most significant proportion of the market, and the highest profit.
In the years that followed, in 2003, the company released its first camera phone, which assisted in firmly establishing the company’s place in the mobile manufacturing market. Notably, in 2011, Nokia entered into a brilliant strategic partnership with Microsoft Corporation to assist in addressing the growing competition from Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems. This partnership was made to help Nokia corporation manage the increasing competition (Donaldson, 2019). In addition, the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, a French-American telecommunications equipment company, by Nokia Corporation in 2015 helped it diversify its portfolio and customer base, enabling it to remain relevant in an industry prone to volatility.
“Connecting People” and “Very Human Technology” are the company’s stated missions and goals. The promise made by Nokia is that it will make people feel closer to the things that are essential to them. The leadership of a company selects inspiring words to compose a vision statement. The purpose of this document is to clearly and succinctly communicate the path the organization intends to take in the future (Morton et al., 2018). The firm’s mission and values can be effectively communicated via a clear vision statement, which also serves to drive the workforce to realize an attractive and inspirational common vision of the future. A company’s activities and the driving force behind its existence can be summed up in a mission statement. It is possible for a company’s mission statement to evolve, particularly in rapidly developing industries, if new strategies are implemented, as is the case with Nokia Corporation.
The Nokia firm strongly emphasizes respect, achievement, renewal, and challenge as its core values. These values are a compass for the company’s expansion and overall performance in the marketplace. In the most fundamental sense, they serve as a shared basis that enables the employees of Nokia to construct a single business, collaborate effectively, and make sound choices. According to Janes & Sutton (2017), a company’s values are comprised of the beliefs, characteristics, and behavioral norms that the workforce is expected to demonstrate while conducting the company’s business and pursuing the company’s strategic vision and strategy. These beliefs and traits are referred to as “core values.”
According to Donaldson (2019), Nokia has gone through multiple leadership revolutions in order to strengthen its business performance and aid it in reestablishing a competitive market position. These are two things that have been synonymous with the company ever since it was first established. These adjustments were undertaken in order to turn around the performance of the corporation and to support it in reestablishing itself as a competitive presence in the market. In recent years, Nokia, a business formerly the market leader in mobile phones, has been confronted with a wide variety of obstacles. These challenges include fierce competition, diverse demographics and consumer preferences, and company restructures. Because of the intense competition in the industry in which Nokia works, the company must continuously pursue new avenues of business strategy and make substantial financial investments in marketing if it wants to remain relevant (Donaldson, 2019). The iOS and Android operating systems, developed by Apple and Google respectively, gave rise to the competition. In addition, the decision that Nokia made, in the beginning, to continue using the Symbian operating system for its mobile phone software was a poor one, which led to Samsung corporation gaining a competitive advantage over Nokia.
News Item Affecting the Company and Posing a Challenge to its Strategy
According to Morton, Stacey and Mohn (2018), the Nokia corporation suffers from ineffective innovation management. When one considers the company’s position as a global mobile technology pioneer and its lack of innovation, it’s clear that the company has lost a significant amount of market share because of this. The fact that Nokia was once the industry leader in mobile technology led to the corporation becoming complacent about creating new technologies to satisfy the ever-evolving requirements of consumers. The organization possesses isolated hubs of remarkable creativity, but it does not have an overarching plan to use this potential. Companies like Apple and Samsung, known for their high levels of innovation, are quickly taking over that market share.
The company’s primary business strategy is examining Nokia’s rivals as a means of navigating the shifting landscape of the technology industry. It requires a clear understanding of who the rivals are and instilling a sense of urgency in the activities the firm engages in to stimulate growth. Therefore, ineffective management of innovation stifles growth, which is frequently seen as a result of desirable by-products due to their appealing qualities, reasonable prices, ability to satisfy consumer wants, and attractive appearance.
Conclusion
A firm’s strategy can assist in determining the path that the company will follow in the coming years. It provides documentation of how a corporation intends to attain its objectives. However, the implementation of the plan is hampered by obstacles such as inadequate innovation management, as demonstrated by the Nokia firm. The technology sector is subject to unpredictability; Lamberg et al. (2021) cite several instances, including market needs, the development of new technologies, and the emergence of new competitors who bring innovative business practices and cutting-edge innovations to the market. When developing competitive advantages in the smartphone sector, Nokia faces some problems. Due to the rapid pace at which technology advances, it is therefore of the utmost importance to devise efficient ways to ensure its continued existence and expansion.
References
Donaldson, C. (2019). Nokia’s 7-step approach for turning its managers into real leaders. Web.
Janes, A., & Sutton, C. (2017). Ebook: Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage. McGraw Hill.
Lamberg, J. A., Lubinaitė, S., Ojala, J., & Tikkanen, H. (2021). The curse of agility: The Nokia Corporation and the loss of market dominance in mobile phones, 2003–2013. Business History, 63(4), 574-605.
Morton, J., Stacey, P., & Mohn, M. (2018). Building and maintaining strategic agility: a plan and framework for executive IT leaders. California management review, 61(1), 94-113.