False hopes and vague handwaving concepts have always been suitable vehicles for attracting attention and excitement, if that's all one is looking for.
This "Nokia Plan B" was no different. It didn't offer anything actionable. Remember that the plan's main proposal was:
Return the company to a strategy that seeks high growth and high profit margins through innovation and overwhelmingly superior products with unrivaled user experience.
Is that really an exciting turnaround plan for a company of some 120,000+ employees? The whole plan boiled down to: "Let's keep doing the same thing we've tried unsuccessfully for years, but let's just do it better." Of course, there's always bound to be people who can't let go. (I know someone who bought Nokia shares in early 2000 at more than 10x the current price and is still holding on to them.)
Eh, I dunno, there was some sensible action in there. Reducing to two locations the enormous, global oilslick that is Nokia's R&D seems like a good idea. Gutting all the outsourcing seems like a good idea. De-bureaucratizing and de-cluttering the organization seems, to me, a lot more sensible than outsourcing the very soul of your product's user experience and becoming little more than a commodity electronics manufacturer.
Like Tony Hsieh says, you can't be successful by outsourcing something that should be your core competency.
Comments
False hopes and vague handwaving concepts have always been suitable vehicles for attracting attention and excitement, if that's all one is looking for.
This "Nokia Plan B" was no different. It didn't offer anything actionable. Remember that the plan's main proposal was:
Return the company to a strategy that seeks high growth and high profit margins through innovation and overwhelmingly superior products with unrivaled user experience.
Is that really an exciting turnaround plan for a company of some 120,000+ employees? The whole plan boiled down to: "Let's keep doing the same thing we've tried unsuccessfully for years, but let's just do it better." Of course, there's always bound to be people who can't let go. (I know someone who bought Nokia shares in early 2000 at more than 10x the current price and is still holding on to them.)
Eh, I dunno, there was some sensible action in there. Reducing to two locations the enormous, global oilslick that is Nokia's R&D seems like a good idea. Gutting all the outsourcing seems like a good idea. De-bureaucratizing and de-cluttering the organization seems, to me, a lot more sensible than outsourcing the very soul of your product's user experience and becoming little more than a commodity electronics manufacturer.
Like Tony Hsieh says, you can't be successful by outsourcing something that should be your core competency.
Nokia has been trying "innovation and overwhelmingly superior products" for years? could have fooled me..