Fish Can't See Water by Kai Hammerich & Richard D. Lewis

Author:Kai Hammerich & Richard D. Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2013-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

The embryonic period of the new Nokia 1.0

Over the years, Nokia evolved into a diversified conglomerate with activities in forest products, consumer electronics, television sets and PCs, rubber tyres, rubber boots and a small telephone business. By 1990, it was in poor financial shape after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland's main trading partner, in 1989.

However, it had a young, ambitious and capable CEO, Jorma Ollila. He was appointed at the age of 39 in 1991. In 1992, he recommended to the board that Nokia should focus on mobile phones and infrastructure equipment, and thus Nokia 1.0 was created. From Jorma Ollila, the new Nokia would get its traits of competing to win, a global outlook and ambition.

Ollila attracted a golden generation of highly capable and ambitious executives: Matti Alahuhta, Pekka Ala-Pietilä, Sari Baldauf, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Pertti Korhonen, Anssi Vanjoki and the designer Nuevo. They were all Finnish nationals. Together, they created a culture with an international outlook, ambition and strong Finnish roots. They were masterfully led and worked well together. They were swifter and more agile than the competition in their decision-making and able to translate a strategic decision into action quickly and cohesively.7

The mobile industry was about to take off. Nokia was the new kid on the block, competing with mature and slower moving companies who had grown big making fixed wire equipment. Nokia had a fresh and different perspective, which was appreciated by the new mobile operators. Nokia was ready and simply went for it!

With the new GSM standard, mobile phones quickly reached attractive consumer price points that would dramatically expand the market in Europe. The emerging markets soon after took off and Nokia was quick to expand into China, Asia and Latin America. The established competition was slow to react. Nokia used its Finnish design traditions, innovative and creative mindset and its experience with consumer electronics and retailing to design good-looking, durable and user-friendly handsets that soon became popular with consumers.

The Nokia brand was further accentuated when Nokia launched the hugely popular “Connecting People” campaign. Nokia was fun and friendly and helped the world connect from the businessman in New York to the farmer in India. Nokia empowered the global village to communicate before the Internet had arrived. When Nokia 1.0 quickly expanded geographically to Asia, China and Latin America, the subsidiary culture would adapt to the local culture, though there were significant efforts to promote a consistent Nokia culture, based on its Finnish virtues. Not all employees were Finnish by birth, but all new employees were proud of being part of Nokia with its unique values of personal respect, trust and empowerment. These early “Nokians”, as they were affectionately called, were an eclectic mix of energetic entrepreneurs and people with management experience from the IT industry.

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