In 2011, Nokia announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft, a new strategy and a new internal organization. Microsoft (2011) reported on the changes:
"With Nokia's planned move to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform, Symbian becomes a franchise platform, leveraging previous investments to harvest additional value. This strategy recognizes the opportunity to retain and transition the installed base of 200 million Symbian owners. Nokia expects to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian devices in the years to come."
"As of April 1, Nokia will have a new company structure, which features two distinct business units: Smart Devices and Mobile Phones. They will focus on Nokia's key business areas: high-end smartphones and mass-market mobile phones. Each unit will have profit-and-loss responsibility and end-to-end accountability for the full consumer experience, including product development, product management and product marketing."
Sadly, that did not pan out.
- How would you describe Nokia's organizational structure using concepts from this module (including functional versus divisional versus conglomerate; centralized versus decentralized; mechanistic versus organic)?
- Debate whether these changes help the company to execute its strategy going forward.
- How does Nokia's structure compare to your employer's structure?