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INSEAD professor’s new book offers strategic insights and lessons from Nokia’s journey

INSEAD professor’s new book offers strategic insights and lessons from Nokia’s journey

INSEAD professor’s new book offers strategic insights and lessons from Nokia’s journey

An inside story based on interviews with Nokia’s senior managers, opening the proverbial ‘black box’ of why and how things happen at the top of organisations. Provides valuable lessons for companies looking to forge or maintain a leading position.

INSEAD, the business school for the world, announced today a new book: “Ringtone: Exploring the Rise and Fall of Nokia in Mobile Phones” (Ringtone) by Yves Doz, INSEAD Emeritus Professor of Strategic Management, and The Solvay Chaired Professor of Technological Innovation at INSEAD, and Keeley Wilson, Senior Researcher at INSEAD.

Ringtone offers a unique perspective on the highs and lows of Nokia’s journey. Observing from the position of privileged outsiders, with access to Nokia’s senior managers for over two decades, the authors tell the story of Nokia in mobile phones. Their analysis of what happened to Nokia and why, provides insights and lessons relevant to all corporate managers today.   

Discussing what drove him to investigate Nokia’s story and write Ringtone, Yves Doz, INSEAD Emeritus Professor of Strategic Management, and The Solvay Chaired Professor of Technological Innovation at INSEAD, explained: “Many observers have lay the blame of Nokia’s demise at the door of Apple and the introduction of the iPhone. But knowing Nokia as I did, intuitively this felt wrong. I wanted to understand why a company that had been one of the fastest growing success stories in corporate history so rapidly went into decline.”

Keeley Wilson, Senior Researcher at INSEAD added: “What we discovered was that long before its financial performance revealed it was in trouble, Nokia was in crisis strategically and organisationally.”

Taking readers on a riveting journey, each chapter begins with a chronological narrative history focused on key management decisions and actions. This is followed by an analytical commentary looking at the drivers of success and failure based on the novel ‘CORE’ framework: Cognition (the perspectives and mental models developed and adopted by managers); Organisation (its structure and processes); Relationships (senior executives impacting effective decision making and engagement); and Emotions (energy and commitment).     

Ringtone highlights that Nokia’s decline cannot be explained by a single, simple answer and explains how the interplay between strategic insights Nokia’s managers gained, organisational choices they made, their behaviour and interactions and their emotional engagement drove competitive outcomes, both good and bad. 

Offering key lessons for managers, executives and corporate strategists, Ringtone is a must-read for those wanting to either forge or maintain a leading position in their industry in light of the rapid advancement of technology, market change and growing complexities. ­­
 

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About INSEAD, The Business School for the World

As one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools, INSEAD brings together people, cultures and ideas to develop responsible leaders who transform business and society. Our research, teaching and partnerships reflect this global perspective and cultural diversity.

With locations in Europe (France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi), and now North America (San Francisco), INSEAD's business education and research spans four regions. Our 162 renowned Faculty members from 40 countries inspire more than 1,300 degree participants annually in our Master in Management,  MBAGlobal Executive MBA, Specialised Master’s degrees (Executive Master in Finance and Executive Master in Change) and PhD programmes. In addition, more than 10,000 executives participate in INSEAD Executive Education programmes each year.

INSEAD continues to conduct cutting-edge research and innovate across all our programmes. We provide business leaders with the knowledge and awareness to operate anywhere. Our core values drive academic excellence and serve the global community as The Business School for the World.

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Gwenaelle Hennequin
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