Customer Reviews

Business the Nokia Way: Secrets of the World's Fastest Moving Company

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If you have read nothing about Nokia and are curious about the company's management processes, this book will quickly get you up the speed at a general level. The most valuable parts of Cold Calling are the questions for applying the concepts to your company.

The book focuses on the transformation of Nokia from Finnish conglomerate to mobile telecommunications equipment giant. Mr. Merriden did not work with Nokia or its suppliers or customers to produce the book. As a result, the observations are built from annual reports, press articles, and speeches by company executives. The pages leave you at a high level of generality that omits much of the richness of the Nokia story. For example, detailed descriptions of how the exciting new cell phone handsets are developed are missing. That is surprising, because I have read a number of articles on that subject.

Each chapter until the last one describes one element of the Nokia success model. Here is the book's layout:

One -- Combine Leadership with Bravery to Achieve Perfect Vision

Two -- Battle Hard to Win the Customer

Three -- Respect the Individual

Four -- Get Your Human Resource Strategy Right

Five -- Brand for the World and the Individual

Six -- Innovate Relentlessly, Compete Remorselessly

Seven -- Treat Suppliers with Respect

Eight -- Let's Get Together (do joint ventures)

Nine -- Never Forget that Bottom Line

Ten -- Will Nokia Continue to Be Successful?

Some of the key concepts are described as providing "the most choice possible within a single product," emphasizing "speed, quality, openness, integrity, teamwork, humility, accountability, responsibility and empowerment," having "attitude and motivation" in the work force, and being sure people realize "you are responsible for your development." A wee bit more detail would have made these nice-sounding concepts become more tangible for the reader.

In thinking about the future, Mr. Merriden argues that it all adds up to continued success.

I'm not so sure. Nokia is now a very big company, and the base technology is in the process of shifting. If Nokia rides the wrong technology horses, it could become as out of date as high-buckled shoes pretty quickly. Time will tell, but few companies seem to be able to shift technologies smoothly.

After you read this book, I suggest that you think of at least two other companies which pursued many of the same principles. If possible, find one that succeeded and one that flopped. See by comparing Nokia to the alternatives whether or not you can find other key differentiating factors to help you understand Nokia.

Boldly experiment with improvements that customers like better at constantly dropping prices!