Downfall of nokia

Abstract

Mobile phone industry is one of the most dynamic and competitive market in the world. For a decade Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia was a market leader in mobile phone market. Since the early 2000s smartphones became increasingly popular segment inside the mobile phone industry. Mobile phone market leader Nokia underestimated the importance of smartphones, and although remaining as a market leader for entire mobile phone industry until the early 2010s, it was underachieving in the smartphone market in comparison to its main rivals Apple and Samsung. Nokia tried to gain a market leadership in the smartphone industry through strategic alliance with technology company Microsoft. Strategic alliance, however, failed to achieve this goal. This article attempts to explain through descriptive research method the main reasons that caused the downfall of Nokia from being the mobile phone market leader to becoming a former mobile phone manufacturer in less than 10 years. This article suggests that industry changes and company’s decision making environment caused an irreversible decline in Nokia that resulted in acquisition of Nokia’s Devices & Services unit to Microsoft.