The Impact of Large-Scale Change on Tesco and Nokia's Strategy and Operations

ASSIGNMENT
TITLE

Table of Contents
Task 1 – The impact that large-scale change has had upon Tesco and Nokia’s strategy
and operations...................................................................................................................1
Task 2 – Change management and leadership................................................................6
References.......................................................................................................................11

Task 1 – The impact that large-scale change has had upon Tesco and
Nokia’s strategy and operations
Change is the only constant factor, even in markets and business units. To manage
change it is very important to analyze and measure the degree of influence the change
might have on the organization. Certain changes are self-initiated, certain are a result of
forces from external environment. This essay is an insight on the impact of large scale
changes the companies Nokia and Tesco had to undergo and managing its operations
and business strategy to accommodate the required change.
Tesco, a multinational groceries and merchandise retailer from UK, is the ninth largest
retail service provider by revenue. The company dropped from its merit ranking and
started observing continuous market share loss even though it was the brightest
innovators in retailing business. Another top grossing company, Nokia, faced a severe
market and customer fallout with their reluctance to change to the new idea of
communication. As a result, the company lost its dominance and its market share had
reduced to less than 3% by the end of 2013. In both these cases, the primary reason of
decline is observed as the inefficiency in adopting the change management process,
where Tesco failed to adjust to the rapid internationalization strategy and Nokia failed to
respond to the changing forces in the industry (Hayes, 2018).
Tesco’s loss was majorly an external force driven failure, that the company was not able
to contain. To recover from the loss in reputation and customer loyalty, the organization
adjusted its change process by aligning strategic decisions in proximity with operations,
to adhere to shifting demands (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015). It started focusing at the
technological advantage it can gain, continuing its innovation streak. Implementation of
NFC Contactless payment procedures and other e-wallet advancements enabled it to
restore its market value. Here the driver for change was the recession scenario and the
company contained the concern with the method of incremental change process.
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Nokia on the other hand suffered a customer drain due to acceptance of different idea
offered by a strong competitor like Apple. New method of communication and use of
internet through smart devices was a strategic advantage that the competitor had, which
Nokia failed to implement in time. Later when Microsoft bought Nokia, they expanded
the objectives and developed a similar feature of its own, empowering Nokia. Nokia has
now relaunched itself with new and technologically scaled mobile phones supported by
Microsoft products. The major driver for change here was customer perception and the
effective change process was transformational type.
Driving forces for change management are different for both of these companies.
Although majorly the forces of change are majorly external in both the scenarios, the
internal factors do play an important role in introducing the type of change required
(Fernandez & Rainey, 2017). Not only does the strategic actions face turmoil but the
teams and human resources associated to the companies also face the heat. For both
Nokia and Tesco, the fall in market value and customer acquisition by contenders, the
top management leaders faced the most severe challenges. In the process of
reestablishing themselves, two of the most reputed CEOs of Tesco resigned from their
posts and the teams suffered leadership setback. With Nokia, the acquisition brought
the control structure under the Microsoft’s governance, changing the culture and
organizational structure.
Change process, although are necessary and crucial, and are expected to have positive
outcomes under the small evolution phase, yet there are certain negative setbacks.
These negative affects can be controlled or minimized by certain efforts that can
prevent the drastic change process and make the change swift for adoption. The teams
play crucial role in implementing the change, therefore it is always important to involve
the teams into the change decisions (Van der Voet & Vermeeren, 2017). This not only
keeps things transparent, but also wins confidence of employees removing the fear of
termination and unexpected company closure. Another technique of team confidence
building is the frequent management interaction, asking for opinions, feedback and
ideas from the staff to inculcate strong cultural bond between the leaders and team
members (Von Elverfeldt, et al., 2016).
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