I ran across this article on Nokia's shrinking market share in the US [NOKIA], and it was interesting to see how well it related to the topics we've been discussing in class. As Apple and other smart phone manufacturers are ever increasing their share of the US market, Nokia has steadily fallen since 2006. One explanation is the company's unwillingness to relinquish control of the hardware and software of its phones to the provider.
Collaborating with other companies and forming strategic alliances with otherwise competitors is crucial to a firm's ability to be agile in a changing market place. At least a portion of the success that other smart phone manufacturers and providers have experienced is due to their ability to interpret the market and roll out a product that fits the current needs, wants and trends of its customers. It seems that Nokia is having a hard time letting go of the old way of doing things in the US because it is still working well on a global scale.
The issue of context inevitably comes to mind here. Nokia has found themselves at a strategic inflection crossroads of sorts in the US market, and it is coming to be decision time for the company. It has to decide how it is going to respond to the current trends of the market. Will it continue producing phones the same way that it has been, hoping to ride out the smart phone wave? Or will it suffer the fate of companies such as Blockbuster and eventually fall by the wayside in the US as a result of its unwillingness to make the appropriate changes in its business model to respond to its current context? Time will reveal.
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