Briefing Memorandum of Nokia

This briefing memorandum provides a systematic interpretation, critical analysis, and evaluation of significant change requirements for Nokia. It discusses the background, context, central issues, and issues for consideration in the proposal for future change requirements.

Running head: BRIEFING MEMORANDUM OF NOKIA
BRIEFING MEMORANDUM OF NOKIA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BRIEFING MEMORANDUM OF NOKIA
To: The CEO Nokia Company
From: (Name of Student)
Date: 12/2/2019
Subject: Proposal for future change requirements in Nokia

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1. Purpose
The purpose of the memorandum is to provide a systematic interpretation, critical
analysis and evaluation of a significant change requirements for Nokia. As a mobile
manufacturing company Nokia garnered huge success in the first decade of the 21st century
(Majanoja, Linko & Leppänen, 2017). However, recently the operational environment has
greatly changed. The rise of large android smartphone manufacturers have greatly affected the
prospects of Nokia. It has become much important that Nokia change its core business to
elements that can provide greater revenue value to the company.

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2. Background and context
Nokia had remained one of the principle mobile sellers in the world for a long time. The
Finnish company have enjoyed the position for the top mobile manufacturer of the world for as
long as 14 years. However, things started to change for the company with the rise of Android
smartphones and iphones. The rise of the leading smartphone manufacturers like Samsung,
Xiaomi, Google, etc, and the further consolidation of the market of Apple iphones have greatly
hampered the demand and growth of Nokia as a leading mobile phone manufacturer. The
company eventually had to sell its mobile business to Microsoft. Microsoft Lumia for a
substantial amount of time remained in demand as a windows operating system smartphone. This
was the very much the only remaining exposure of the public to the brand Nokia (Nokia
Corporation, 2019). However, with passing time the product offerings of Nokia disintegrated
further forcing the company to change its core business from being predominantly mobile based
to network equipment based.
As of now the company is paying more attention towards the network equipment segment
of its business. However, there are efforts to regain its lost market through the introduction of
Android Smartphones. There is a requirement for change in the organization as Nokia has a
definite need for resurgence of its business. The company has suffered loss with regards to its
previously significant functions (How Is Nokia's Licensing Business Faring?, 2019). It is
important to understand that Nokia needs to launch products that help it to significantly regain its
effectiveness in performance levels. The requirement of change is needed to address two
significant factors that have emerged to dominate the principle business proceedings of the
company. These factors are the growing market of smartphones and the increasing reliance of the
company only on its B to B sector and network equipment (Majanoja, Linko & Leppänen, 2017).

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The change of core business of the company has taken place. The company now emphasizes on
network equipment as an essential business sector. However, the major problem is that the
company despite the positive growth of business over the years after shifting its core business
might not be able to generate the same kind of large revenue that it used to garner during the
times of its booming mobile business. In essence if the company wants to reach the levels of
productivity that it previously used to engage in, it has to re-launch newer products to address the
growing market demand for android phones.
The various theories connected with change management emphasize on the need for
organizational change. Some of the essential change drivers are technology, customer needs,
economy, better growth opportunities and positive innovations. According to the change model
proposed by Lewin, changes in an organization takes place essentially through various stages.
The stages include unfreezing, change and refreeze (Cummings, Bridgman & Brown, 2016).
Unfreezing in this case is associated with the identification of the need for change in Nokia as an
organization. Change needs to be implemented through proper communication and
empowerment subsequently and the final step is to refreeze the change process through the
establishment of mechanisms to sustain the change. In essence it can be said that change is
required in the organization as there is a significant opportunity for Nokia to rejuvenate its
productivity. The 14 years of productive excellence of Nokia can be used to bring products to the
market that can effectively live up to the demand for smartphones in the market. The most
important factor that can affect the resurgence of the company is the expertise it had gained in
manufacturing mobiles for a long time (Nokia Corporation, 2019). The significant problem that
might arise however, is the competing firms developing better expertise with regard to
manufacturing technology utilizing the technology platform of android. The new smartphones

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that have been released by Nokia has failed to gain much popularity and better strategies need to
be implemented.
3. Central Issues
There are various key issues that need to be brought to the notice of the management.
This will help in the better understanding of the entire matter. It has to be remembered that the
company currently focuses more on the segment concerning network equipment. This segment
has helped to regain momentum for the company in the market. Since, 2012 the networking
equipment division of the organization has contributed to 12 fold growth of Nokia. Hence, the
company cannot take a decision to directly focus on brining newer models of android
smartphones into the market. The change of core business from mobile to network equipment
was done considering the ground that Nokia mobile lost due to the great emergence of newer
brands that were providing far better android mobile solutions to the customers (Cameron &
Green, 2015). It should be remembered that Android industry in the current corporate sector is
dominated by various companies that have close competition with each other. The largest market
players are Samsung and Apple. The other main players that have emerged are the Chinese
smartphone brands.
It can be said that given the condition of the market the current brands have been able to
greatly capitalize on the smartphone market. This is a significant threat for brand Nokia.
Moreover, Nokia, despite having been able to influence the market of mobiles for a long time in
the past the company have lost a significant portion of its brand value when it comes to android
phones. In the recent past the mobile division had been sold to Microsoft (Nokia Corporation,
2019). The Brand had been able to witness somewhat better demand considering its Microsoft
oriented operating system phones. However, the major issue in regard to this was that for a long

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time the company did not take part in the manufacture of Android phones. This contributed to
the loss of brand value when it came to android. Hence, the most important factor that has
emerged in the way of resurgence is the insufficient brand value when it comes to being an
android smartphone manufacturer. This means the company will have to keep on with their
current focus on network equipment manufacture. At the same time the revenue that is generated
from this division of business can be utilized to release newer models of Android smartphones in
the market. Nokia need to develop better product specialization (Ewenstein, Smith & Sologar,
2015). Simply releasing a new android smartphone will not work. Hence, it is advisable that
Nokia launches a product that will have an android operating system while retaining much of the
operational features that were trademark of Nokia in the past.

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4. Issues for consideration
4.1 Leadership
In order for better change management, the leadership need to be changed. Especially,
there is a need for better leadership that will lead the mobile manufacturing segment of the
organization. The change that essentially needs to be made is to create a completely new
hierarchy in regards to the smartphone manufacturing division of the business. Recently many of
the leadership members had left the company over cultural business approach disagreements.
The cultural attributes of Finland were much more cooperation oriented but the new business
head being a Canadian had different point of view. A better cultural leadership is required for the
enhancement of the productivity of the company (Bolman & Deal, 2017). The leadership need to
be innovative and strive towards newer product design ideas. The leadership needs to give more
emphasis towards nurturing budding talents.
4.2 Meeting desired objectives of change
The significant objectives that need to be considered are re-consideration of the product
placement, distribution and production; enhancement of product offerings and change in the
manufacturing process to integrate the latest technology in designing android smartphones. The
objectives of change need to be met through the effective utilization of resources. The most
important factor will be to create significant database with regards to the information of the
product attribute of the competitors. The database need to be utilized towards achieving
objectives concerning product design. The change is to successfully change the structure of the
mobile department and subsequently release newer models of smartphones into the market. The
objectives need to be met through proper planning mechanisms. The planning needs to be done
through the introduction of periodic action plans.

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4.3 Considering human needs of members
Considering the human needs of the members are an important factor. There have been
employee attrition in the past as the cultures of the leaderships and the culture of the employees
have clashed. Hence there is a definite need for better cultural understanding between the
management and the operations. Hence, it becomes important that better corporate strategies are
implemented to develop stronger relationships with the employees. Employee’s need to be given
more flexible work schedules and ample rest. The basic needs such as food and water need to be
provided very importantly by the organization. Better employee management will reap better
results.

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References
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to
the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
Carnall, C. (2018). Managing change. Routledge.
Cummings, S., Bridgman, T., & Brown, K. G. (2016). Unfreezing change as three steps:
Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. human relations, 69(1), 33-60.
Ewenstein, B., Smith, W., & Sologar, A. (2015). Changing change management. McKinsey
Digital, 1-4.
Majanoja, A. M., Linko, L., & Leppänen, V. (2017). Global corrective action preventive action
process and solution: insights at the Nokia Devices operation unit. International Journal
of Productivity and Quality Management, 20(1), 29-47.
Nokia (2019). Retrieved from
http://www.dadablog.net/publications/ChangeManagementAtNokia.pdf
Nokia Corporation. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.nokia.com/
How Is Nokia's Licensing Business Faring?. (2019). Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2017/09/06/how-is-nokias-licensing-
business-faring/#7ae4d78e52a5https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/
2017/09/06/how-is-nokias-licensing-business-faring/#7ae4d78e52a5