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Ringtone: Exploring the Rise and Fall of Nokia in Mobile Phones
In less than three decades, Nokia emerged from Finland to lead the mobile phone revolution. It grew to have one of the most recognizable and valuable brands in the world and then fell into decline, leading to the sale of its mobile phone business to Microsoft. This book explores and analyzes that journey and distils observations and learning points for anyone keen to understand what drove Nokia's amazing success and sudden downfall.
With privileged access to Nokia's senior managers over the last twenty years followed by a more concerted research agenda from 2015, the authors describe and analyze, the various stages in Nokia's journey. The book describes leaders making strategic and organizational decisions, their behavior and interactions, and how they succeeded and failed to inspire and engage their employees. Perhaps most intriguingly, it opens the proverbial 'black box' of why and how things actually happen at the top of organizations.
Why did things fall apart? To what extent were avoidable mistakes made? Did the world around Nokia change too fast for it to adapt? And, did Nokia's success contain the seeds of its failure?
With privileged access to Nokia's senior managers over the last twenty years followed by a more concerted research agenda from 2015, the authors describe and analyze, the various stages in Nokia's journey. The book describes leaders making strategic and organizational decisions, their behavior and interactions, and how they succeeded and failed to inspire and engage their employees. Perhaps most intriguingly, it opens the proverbial 'black box' of why and how things actually happen at the top of organizations.
Why did things fall apart? To what extent were avoidable mistakes made? Did the world around Nokia change too fast for it to adapt? And, did Nokia's success contain the seeds of its failure?
204 pages, Hardcover
Published January 2, 2018
13 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 31, 2018
An excellent study of Nokia that -- despite its academic origins -- reads like top-notch journalism. The fall of Nokia is an interesting cautionary tale, but the rise is what caught my attention.
Doz and Wilson show how Finland's history and geography created fertile soil for the company and enabled its people to build core competences perfectly suited for the transition from analog to digital telephony. I also enjoyed seeing just how much of smartphone history is rooted in the work done right here in Tampere.
Doz and Wilson show how Finland's history and geography created fertile soil for the company and enabled its people to build core competences perfectly suited for the transition from analog to digital telephony. I also enjoyed seeing just how much of smartphone history is rooted in the work done right here in Tampere.
July 22, 2021
Ringtone is an excellent account of Nokia’s experiences in mobile phones by a senior consultant and Insead professor who knows. This book is published by Oxford University Press but is much in the spirit of the Harvard Business School Press books, only with a European emphasis.
This is better than most of these efforts and far superior to most business trade books. There is no pet theory being peddled and readers looking for quick takeaways and easy payoffs will be disappointed. The punchline is that there is no simple punchline; the secret is that there is no secret. Nokia was highly successful in the initial development and commercialization of mobile phones (I even remember the ringtone!). This was due to some good initial decisions and smart leadership. Nokia was a highly regarded and highly valuable firm. …and then the world kept turning, the industry developed further, new competitors and products arose, and …things change. “Platform” strategies are all the rage now, especially looking at convergence among the FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google). They were new in 2010 and it is understandable that Nokia kept thinking of products rather than platforms.
Doz is a well known strategy scholar. To succeed in a major industry, firms must do many thing well - or at least good enough. They need to have a good product that people want. They need to be able to make and distribute it profitably. They need to know what their competitors are doing and how to outperform them. They need good leaders who can perform well, work together when needed, and execute on company decisions. They need to manage government relations. They need to know when to stick with their decisions and when to change. Have I left anything out? There is a temptation to think that strong positions in these areas are all the result of careful choice, but that is almost never the case. Positions can come about from prior choices, historical accidents, the consequences of war, or sometimes even dumb luck.
When a firm has done well, it is relatively easy after the fact to identify all the good choices that were made and the bad choices that were avoided. Hindsight is 20-20. In real time, however, it not clear at all what should be done “going forward”. It is not clear how to respond to competitors or even to customer feedback. For example, around 2008, nobody thought the new iPhone had any future.
But … one thing led to another. Prior mistakes were not remedied. Prior ways of doing business were not redirected. Before long, Nokia enters into a strategic alliance with Microsoft and ends up exiting its mobile phone business by selling it to Microsoft. The strength of this book is that Doz leads the reader through these events and provides some help in making sense of them. He has spent years talking with Nokia senior managers and doing executive education classes with Nokia middle managers. He is a good guide to how this story developed. It is not always exciting, but as an analysis of the evolution of Nokia’s strategic position, it is quite an accomplishment. Most firms would not have been so forthcoming and outside observers would be left wondering what happened for a given set of decisions.
This book is likely not for casual readers of top management decisions, but if one is interested in such decisions, this is a worthwhile (and not too long) book that is well worth the effort. There are even some additional options for further reading at the end of each chapter. In terms of formatting, the book is organized by chapters on a chronological basis. Each chapter has a section in which the basic facts (not exhaustive) of the period are reported and a section of commentary, in which some analysis and updating of the strategic situation is provided. This was not my favorite aspect of the book but it seems intended to facilitate class discussions of the materials. Doz does employ a four part framework to organize his conclusions for each chapter - cognition, organization, relationships, and emotions. The key points for each are presented in a 2X2 box at the end of each chapter. This was a useful summary.
This is better than most of these efforts and far superior to most business trade books. There is no pet theory being peddled and readers looking for quick takeaways and easy payoffs will be disappointed. The punchline is that there is no simple punchline; the secret is that there is no secret. Nokia was highly successful in the initial development and commercialization of mobile phones (I even remember the ringtone!). This was due to some good initial decisions and smart leadership. Nokia was a highly regarded and highly valuable firm. …and then the world kept turning, the industry developed further, new competitors and products arose, and …things change. “Platform” strategies are all the rage now, especially looking at convergence among the FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google). They were new in 2010 and it is understandable that Nokia kept thinking of products rather than platforms.
Doz is a well known strategy scholar. To succeed in a major industry, firms must do many thing well - or at least good enough. They need to have a good product that people want. They need to be able to make and distribute it profitably. They need to know what their competitors are doing and how to outperform them. They need good leaders who can perform well, work together when needed, and execute on company decisions. They need to manage government relations. They need to know when to stick with their decisions and when to change. Have I left anything out? There is a temptation to think that strong positions in these areas are all the result of careful choice, but that is almost never the case. Positions can come about from prior choices, historical accidents, the consequences of war, or sometimes even dumb luck.
When a firm has done well, it is relatively easy after the fact to identify all the good choices that were made and the bad choices that were avoided. Hindsight is 20-20. In real time, however, it not clear at all what should be done “going forward”. It is not clear how to respond to competitors or even to customer feedback. For example, around 2008, nobody thought the new iPhone had any future.
But … one thing led to another. Prior mistakes were not remedied. Prior ways of doing business were not redirected. Before long, Nokia enters into a strategic alliance with Microsoft and ends up exiting its mobile phone business by selling it to Microsoft. The strength of this book is that Doz leads the reader through these events and provides some help in making sense of them. He has spent years talking with Nokia senior managers and doing executive education classes with Nokia middle managers. He is a good guide to how this story developed. It is not always exciting, but as an analysis of the evolution of Nokia’s strategic position, it is quite an accomplishment. Most firms would not have been so forthcoming and outside observers would be left wondering what happened for a given set of decisions.
This book is likely not for casual readers of top management decisions, but if one is interested in such decisions, this is a worthwhile (and not too long) book that is well worth the effort. There are even some additional options for further reading at the end of each chapter. In terms of formatting, the book is organized by chapters on a chronological basis. Each chapter has a section in which the basic facts (not exhaustive) of the period are reported and a section of commentary, in which some analysis and updating of the strategic situation is provided. This was not my favorite aspect of the book but it seems intended to facilitate class discussions of the materials. Doz does employ a four part framework to organize his conclusions for each chapter - cognition, organization, relationships, and emotions. The key points for each are presented in a 2X2 box at the end of each chapter. This was a useful summary.
January 4, 2019
I had the good fortune to be a bit closer to Nokia as I represented a supplier to this company. I read this book as a thriller with several exclamations as " so true!", "well spotted!",etc... The author is an emeritus professor of strategy at Insead and I can only recommend for those with interest in business history and strategy to take the time to read this. Not only do you get a brief explication and history of the mobile telecom industry, you get to peek into the inner workings of a rather peculiar (Fins are peculiar) company, and you get as extra bonus a framework to structure the strategic observations in the CORE quadrants of Prof. Doz: Cognition - Organisation-Relationships and Emotions. Interesting to note that two of these elements are "soft" criteria where psychologists and sociologists have an advantage to analyse what happened.
The book has the pace and cliffhangers as in a thriller, and every business manager will find content to reflect what happened with Nokia and relate to his business. It is a page turner. Well done for a professor in strategy!
The book has the pace and cliffhangers as in a thriller, and every business manager will find content to reflect what happened with Nokia and relate to his business. It is a page turner. Well done for a professor in strategy!
February 9, 2019
Very interesting
The book explains the rise and fall of Nokia from the inside. It is a really interesting book for manager and executive who want to succeed. It helps to understand what can happen in company even when the team wants to make things right. It highlights that the role of the executive team is to deeply think about goal and strategy.
The book explains the rise and fall of Nokia from the inside. It is a really interesting book for manager and executive who want to succeed. It helps to understand what can happen in company even when the team wants to make things right. It highlights that the role of the executive team is to deeply think about goal and strategy.
October 21, 2021
A disappointment. For a reader not previously acquainted with the evolution of Nokia over the quarter of a century from 1990 to 2015, the book does provide an informative synopsis of events. The attempt to explain “why” these events occurred falls short of the mark, especially for readers familiar with the market context and the business specifics of Nokia’s “rise and fall”.
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July 7, 2020I still like Nokia ringtones, it helps me remember the early pictures of the phone. I am still collecting Nokia ringtones.(https://scaricasuoneriegratis.mobi/no...) Who has good ringtone address please share for me.
Thank you!
Thank you!
July 3, 2025
Ciekawa książka – tytuł od razu przywodzi na myśl, jak dzwonki na telefon mogą wpływać na nasze życie i emocje. Swoją drogą, jeśli ktoś szuka darmowych dzwonki na telefon, to polecam stronę https://dzwonki.org – duży wybór i łatwe pobieranie.
July 29, 2025
A fascinating read that truly captures the rise and fall of a tech giant. ringtone dives deep into Nokia’s journey, its innovation, leadership decisions, and eventual missteps.
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January 16, 2026I recommend SonnerieFrance.org as a provider of free ringtones. This is the best sonnerie telephone provider worldwide that you can trust.
March 31, 2022
Enjoy with nokia ringtone: https://ringtonesfree.info/nokia the best music with the best sound quality and no limits
July 11, 2022
Amazing combination of capturing historical events around mobile phone revolution during 90s-20s from Nokia perspective with Harvard Business Review like organizational analysis.
September 27, 2023
A book that helps me have a clearer view of the development of ringtones
July 5, 2024
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July 24, 2024
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August 5, 2024
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August 30, 2024
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October 4, 2024
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October 9, 2024
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June 19, 2025
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September 19, 2025
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November 18, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews