Creative and Innovative Management in Organisations (Nokia)

In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful

Introduction

Nokia is a Finland-based company, established in 1865. It is the world's second-largest mobile phone maker by 2012 unit sales (after Samsung), with a global market share of 22.5% in the first quarter of 2012. Nokia was the world's largest vendor of mobile phones from 1998 to 2012. Nokia is a public limited-liability company listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. (Nokia, 2012)

It is the world's 143rd-largest company measured by 2011 revenues according to the Fortune Global 500. (CNN, 2012)

Nokia use to be at the fore front of innovation in mobile industry and it had a huge market share of mobile phones for at least a decade. But thing began to change in 2007 with the launch of iPhone and the later with the introduction of android enabled mobile phones which laid the foundation of apps development. It opened new possibilities for the mobile app developers to create innovative applications for the end users and earn revenue from the download and updates. This created a difficult situation for Nokia which did not adopted to this innovation in the mobile industry. Hence it lacked behind and kept itself with its symbian mobile operating system which worked for it for over a decade. Nokia did not realise how quickly the industry would change and the new eco system of mobile apps would sweep it across. And this is exactly what happened, Nokia lost its market share dramatically since 2007 and it’s now facing a difficult time and all now the only way forward is to innovate and bring new ideas and inspirations into reality and find ways to better help customers.  

The Scenario:

Nokia is a well renowned mobile manufacturing company. In the past Nokia was holding a prestigious position in the mobile market which has been affected due to a change in technology in the mobile communication industry. My task in this assignment as a Strategic HR Manager/ Change and Innovation Consultant is to help Nokia pull out from its current position and regain it position as a market leader. It would be my responsibility to make strategic decisions, bring changes in business, technology, HR and any other areas that are affected in the organisation. I would be advising the Nokia’s higher officials on policies and issues related to technology and the impact which they had on the company.

a) During the change processes discussed above in (Task 1), evaluate the current creative and innovative management processes that could be applied at Nokia. (6.1.1)

Innovation

Innovation is what makes good companies great. It’s not just invention but also a style of corporate behaviour comfortable with new ideas and risk.

Creativity and Innovation plays a huge role in organisations especially in IT and telecoms where the change cycles are quite frequent. Companies like Microsoft have an annual innovation budget of around $10 billion. (Microsoft, 2013)

The advancements in technology have a profound effect especially in IT and telecommunication sector where the competitions is high from countries like China, Japan and Korea.  Due to this continuous shift in technology, companies continuously face challenges. Many companies are spending a large amount of capital in research and development.

Rate of underlying technology innovation is not slowing down in next decade, a technology base case offers that Moore’s Law which is the rule that semiconductors double in capacity or computing capability (speed) doubles every 18 months is going to continue for at least next 10 years. So CPU rates will increase by a factor of 100 in next ten years (Intel, 2013). Doubling every 18 months is roughly a factor of 10 in five years. In 10 years that’s a factor of 100, In 25 years it’s roughly a factor of 100,000. Another law, Kryder's law says that memory (digital storage space) doubles every 12 months (ScientificAmerican, 2013). The tech companies are fully aware of these statistics and cannot afford to lose their grip on keeping up with the rate of technological innovation.

According to Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, “We only need to look at the internet adoption rate which gives us a clue into mobile adoption rate as “most people now and in future will have their first internet experience on a mobile phone not on the pc”. According to the statistics three billion mobile phone users have mobile phones of any type, out of that about one billion users are using the smart phones. So that leaves two billion people which are currently still using ordinary mobile phones. While the world’s population is around 6.5 billion plus. So there is a huge market for these smart phone consumers in near future.

According to the statistics, another billion users will be using the smart phones by the year 2015. So what we are seeing now is just a small piece of a very large pie. Every big telecom company wants to get its share and that’s why we see the race among the players to accommodate these next billion plus users” (Telegraph, 2012).

Now this is only possible through research and development. Nokia would need to realize that the importance of technology change is critical in telecoms industry, as it drives the uses behavior.

Creative and Innovative process

Innovation is also defined as using creativity to add value. Value can be economic, social, psychological, or aesthetic. (Joseph V. Anderson, 2013)

To implement innovation at Nokia we suggest a three phase innovation process, the process is categorised at:

1.      Conception - Identify and generate new ideas

2.      Implementation - Development of commercial concepts/ products

3.      Marketing - Commercial launch and market establishment

By following the three phase process of innovation i.e. conception, implementation and marketing we could successfully lead Nokia through the innovation management process.

The conception is the stage of nurturing and discussing new ideas and plans to better help the consumers in innovative ways.  Sometimes these ideas can be inspired from existing trends in the market, or from competitors or completely new innovation that solves any user problem.

The stage involves thinking and concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. The stage also involves studying the feasibility of the new idea once it’s inspired to see whether it’s suitable for the company to invest resources on this project.

During the implementation, a prototype is built for testing, and then a beta version is launched. The most successful companies have very tough product reviews before its launched for the public beta testing, and after wards customer feedback is taken into consideration. Then the final product is launched with a powerful marketing campaign.

The higher management team at Nokia could make use of this model to positively embrace innovation and re-invent the smart phone user experience.

(6.1.2, 6.1.3) Explain how Nokia could lead and persuade its stakeholders to positively embrace innovation and change.

Implementation of Creative and Innovative Process at Nokia

Nokia can make use of the Google innovation model, in which they encourage their employees to spend 20% of their time out of their working hours to work on projects in which they are interested in. And this has been a huge success for the Google and most of their interesting projects have come from this strategy. This encourages employees to discuss any innovative ideas they may have and would encourage to pursue towards it. 

Effective Leadership and its importance

A creative environment also requires creative leadership and re-thinking organizational designs. Creative leadership must facilitate positive relationships in organizations to produce profitable growth through innovation.

Some characteristics of a good leader are motivation, confidence, communication and integrity. To manage the creative enterprise is as much as art as science. Creative people are driven by exciting work more than by a pay check, and they need to express themselves through their work. A mind set foreign to many employers. The role of an effective leader is to encourage staff to "kill bureaucracy" to make the firm more nimble.

It’s important to note that many different leadership styles work. There is not one leadership style that is the way in which corporations, institutions succeed. You will have passionate, charismatic and disorganised leaders. You will have boring and rational and precise leaders but what really matters about a leader is their commitment of getting to the right answer and doing it in the right way. And however do they get there, if they get to the right answer, people would respect them, along the way there may be conflict and you can resolve it in many different ways. If you don’t seek out the conflict you won’t excel, because without the conflict at least the ideas in conflict, you won’t hear the best ideas.   

The best way to lead others is by way of free-rein leadership style in which we set the goal for managers and employees and the get along with their job. It gives employees a sense of responsibility and a chance to develop their own potential.

b) Assess the influence of vision and mission of Nokia on generation of creative and innovative management process in the organisation. (6.2.1)

Vision of an organisation is defined as what they want to be in the future. It is a picture of an ideal future state for a company or an individual. It’s their reason for being in the business.

Mission is defined as how an organisation will achieve its vision. A Mission Statement also defines the organization's primary objectives. It is the process that is adopted to achieve the vision.

Vision Statements and Mission Statements are the inspiring words chosen by leaders to clearly and concisely convey the direction of the organization (MindTools, 2013). One of the goals of vision and mission statements is to encourage its employees to work and strive for excellence.

A good vision and mission statement inspires people in the organisation to have a sense of direction and a clear goal of what they should aspire for. And it also helps to motivate the workforce when they know they have a clear objective of their work.

How vision of Nokia influence the generation of creative and innovative management process

Nokia’s mission is simple: Connecting People. Our goal is to build great mobile products that enable billions of people worldwide to enjoy more of what life has to offer. Our challenge is to achieve this in an increasingly dynamic and competitive environment.

Ideas, Energy, Excitement and Opportunities, in today's mobile world, it feels like anything is possible - and that's what inspires us to get out of bed every day. (Nokia, 2013)

Nokia’s mission “Connecting People” is a powerful slogan which exquisitely defines its purpose of being in the mobile industry, which is to connect people.

This statement gives a positive message for its employees who work for the company that their ultimate goal is to connect all the 6.5 billion people of the world.

Mobile phones have experienced a tremendous adoption rate in last decade with more than 3 billion people of the world are now carrying a mobile phone with them.

Out of these 3 billion, 1 billion carries a smart phone with them.

According to the statistics, another billion users will be using the smart phones by year ~ 2015. So what we are seeing now is just a small piece of a very large pie. Every large mobile company wants to get its share and that’s why we see the race among the players to accommodate these next billion plus users” (Telegraph, 2013).

In case of Nokia, their current vision statement is “Connecting people and very human technology” and this has helped them through a whole decade of success. What’s needed now for Nokia is to reform their mission statement and reinvent the way people get connected and now share on social media, use apps to entertain and educate them using the power of web.  Nokia’s powerful vision statement had a profound effect in which the organisation worked and the way people view the organisation and the same is needed by them to influencing the next generation of creative and innovative management process.

Leadership also plays a huge role in influencing the next generation of creative and innovative management processes. In order to positively embrace others for innovation, a leader needs to have a clear vision of where the organisation would be if it embraces innovation.

Successful innovation requires a clear vision defined by the leadership of the organization as well as the creation of an environment where this vision can be shared by colleagues. This combination of vision and environment is called strategic context. Organizations rely on it to harness their creativity. Without a clear strategic context, creativity may blossom, but it will be misplaced. Strategic context gives purpose and direction, benchmarks and role models. It shows the way ahead.

The most widely used search engine Google have a vision statement “Focus on the user and all else will follow.” And their mission statement is “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. The effect of their mission statement has enabled their employees to work and feel to be part of an organisation which affects the lives of mission of people every day. Their vision statement have enabled them to keep their focus on the end users and not care much about the shareholders and put the customers first.

Nokia should implement a similar culture of innovation and creativity that Google has implemented and try the combination of new social media, web and monetization methods which enrich the developers to create innovative apps that affects the lives of millions of mobile phone users around the world.

6.2.2) Identify available analytical tools, and use one tool to identify potential creative and innovative management ideas.

There are multiple areas in which Nokia could add value to its products and offer customers more value for their money. We have identified two potential ideas

Incorporate Multiple OS (Windows and Android)

We suggest that Nokia should implement a hardware feature that would enable multiple OS to be installed on them, this would give choice to customers to switch between Android and Windows phone OS and they could be able to use both the Android and Windows Apps.

So for window users they should be able to use windows 8 apps and for Android users they should be able to use Android apps. This would give windows and android users a choice to use any OS they wish and will give Nokia a cutting edge over its competitors.

Nokia would need to break from existing closed model of app development – symbian - which has worked for them for a decade. They should now switch to a more open and flexible app development environment like Android and Windows Mobile OS.

This could encourage and empower app developers to make apps for the Nokia phones without limitations of the underlying hardware and software. On symbian OS the app developers were forced to make apps using very limited functionality java apps and there was no open model like app store where developers could distribute their apps and earn revenue from them.

Monetise Nokia Apps Market

Monetising the Nokia App market (Ovi.com) would also encourage developers to make exclusive apps for Nokia for which they get rewarded for their efforts. Nokia has an app store called Ovi.com but its not very popular among the customers and people hardly know about it.

Nokia should monetise ovi.com so that developers can specially make apps for Nokia phones just like they get paid by for their apps on Google’s App Store (Goolge Play). This would encourage developers to make apps and this also provides an opportunity for users to get innovative apps from the Nokia store and ultimately this encourages innovation.

Google introduced Android which is an open source Mobile OS with java based android development tools for app developers. This enabled apps developers to make apps and make them available at the Android App Market on Google Play.

Similarly, Apple has been successful by monetising the app developers through its AppStore called iTunes. The developers can submit apps on the Apple AppStore and then the end users can install them through iTunes. Nokia would need to adapt a similar strategy like Apple and Google so that it can enable its app developers to create innovative apps. Just as iTunes gave Apple a significant advantage in having a comfortable app purchasing mechanism that customers already accepted and used. Until that is matched by Nokia for its marketplace, it will still remain fragmented.

SWOT analysis to identify potential creative and innovative management processes.

SWOT stands for strengths, weakness, opportunity and threat analysis and it’s an internal organisational analysis tool. A detailed SWOT analysis on Nokia would reveal us weather it is feasible for Nokia to implement the creative and innovative ideas of incorporating multiple OS and monetising Nokia Apps market.

Strength

Experience of Mobile Industry

Nokia has been in the mobile industry for over 50 years and it has a great track record of producing innovative and creative mobile phones. Nokia can use its experience of the mobile industry to work on innovative and creative ideas that have been discussed.  

Market Share

Nokia’s strength is also in its market share. Even with sales declining for last 5 years, Nokia still holds a good percentage of mobile phone market.  It is the world's second-largest mobile phone maker by 2012 unit sales (after Samsung), with a global market share of 22.5% in the first quarter of 2012. Nokia holds the second position in the world in terms of unit sales behind Samsung which holds the first position.

Durable phones with Longer Life Battery

Currently Nokia offers longest battery life in phones than any other mobile phone maker. The new Nokia phone has a lengthy 17 hours of talk time and 48 days of standby time, an attractive feature in a country like India where many people don't have regular access to electricity and power cuts are frequent. Nokia strength lies in its research and development section.

Cheap Prices

Another positive aspect of Nokia is that it offers smart phones at a very cheap price. The new Nokia Asha phone range cost around 70$ which is quite affordable even in Asian countries like India and Pakistan. This gives Nokia a very distinct advantage over its competitors like iPhone and Samsung galaxy phones which cost around 500$ and more.

Brand Name

Nokia has another advantage that it has a very strong brand image. Nokia name is synonymous to quality, reliability, long life, durability and simplicity. The name Nokia has a strong brand power in mobile phones industry and this could be used by Nokia to further strengthen its market.    

Nokia’s current administration would need to encourage their employees to innovate and work on ideas and thoughts that they believe are interesting and would benefit the company. The flat style of leadership at Google could also be applied at Nokia as it encourages employees to feel comfortable that they are being appreciated.

Weakness

Inability to Innovate

The weakness of Nokia has been its inability to innovate and produce creative ideas in last few years. They need innovative, sleek, smart phones like iphone and Samsung galaxy but with a cheap price.

Stephen Elop, the CEO of Nokia said: "While competitors poured flames on our market share, what happened at Nokia? We fell behind, we missed big trends, and we lost time."

"The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don't have a product that is close to their experience. Android came on the scene just over 2 years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable." (BBC, 2013)

Also applying creativity and innovation is never an easy task and that this would require a great amount of efforts. Changing an incumbent culture and replacing it with a new model requires new vision and inspirations.

Nokia has an experienced management with a history of not realising the importance of innovation and creativity in last 5 years. Nokia would need creative and innovative management with inspiring leadership which can consistently implement and monitor the change while it’s implemented.

Tough Competition

At the same time it’s equally important that Nokia realise what its competitors are doing and how they are doing it. It’s all about learning from past mistakes and taking necessary measures to make sure that they are not repeated in the future.

Lack of Platform

Nokia also needs a platform where users can get apps easily and the developers who develop these apps get paid lucrative amount that encourages them to produce even more innovative apps.

Opportunities

Large Market Share

Nokia has a huge market share and it’s still the second biggest mobile maker in the world. This gives Nokia an opportunity to capitalise on its market share and come up with a way that enables the Android and Windows Phone users to be able to use Nokia phones. This could be achieved by incorporating both Andriod and Windows Phone OS in its smart phones.

Expanding Mobile Markets

The Mobile industry is still in a boom. The number of users that are adopting new mobile phones is exceptional.

- There are about 1.5 billion Users online - from around 6.5 billion population of the whole world.

- Another 1 billion more people will be online by 2015 (Point to consider is that these billion people are those who literally have no connection to the connected world right now via internet) so these are new comers.

 -There are over 1 Billion PC’s connected to the internet, that number is to increase as well.

- We have about 4 Billion Telephone terminations, 3 Billion Mobile phones of any kind - World wide – out of which 1 billion are Smart phones – All or most smart phone are now connected with one way or another to the internet.

- Another 1 billion mobile phone users will come online in next 2 to 3 years and they will have their first introduction/access to the internet via their mobile phone!!!

- Mobile internet adoption rate is faster than anything else we have seen in traditional media, Internet Mobile growth is 8 times faster than then traditional internet on desktops and PC’s

Lots of new customers will be using the mobile phones in the future and Nokia should try to capture this new market.

Low Price Phones

Another potential opportunity for Nokia is to start producing high quality, low price phones. This could be achieved by offering smart reliable phones at completive prices. Nokia would need to produce high end phone with prices that are low enough for people of all countries specially India, Pakistan and China should be able to afford them.

Competitor Analysis

Keeping an eye on competitors and by adopting the ways of its competitors Nokia could produce phones like that of Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy but at low prices. This would encourage more users to buy Nokia phones as it would give them all the features of iPhone and Samsung Galaxy but at cheap prices which they could afford easily.

Growing Smart Phone Market

The figure below illustrates that there is still a demand for smart phones in next few years. For Nokia to be able to keep in this highly innovation driven market and growing competition, it has to implement innovative and creative processes.

Worldwide mobile device shipments in 2012 and 2016 (millions of units), according to Canalys
Type of device	2012 shipments	2016 shipments	2012-16 Growth
Basic phone	122.0	58.0	-17.0%
Feature phone	770.8	660.9	-3.8%
Smartphone	694.8	1,342.5	17.9%
Tablet	114.6	383.5	35.3%
Notebook	215.7	169.1	-5.9%
Netbook	18.3	0.3	-65.4%
Total	1,936.2	2,614.2	7.8%
Source: Canalys (Feb 2013)

Threats

Competitors

The main threat that Nokia faces are its competitors. Companies like Samsung and Apple are offering sleek, smart and beautiful phones which users really like.

The biggest threat for Nokia in the low-end segment of Internet-enabled phones is cheaper devices running on Google's Android software, typically made in China and Taiwan and shipped worldwide to be sold by local companies.

Opposition to New Creative and Innovative Ideas

New changes and new creative and innovative styles always pose a threat to the incumbents who would oppose the change.  There is always a possibility that things don’t go the way one expects.

Incorporating multiple OS like Android and Windows Phone in Nokia could be challenging. It would require a firm leadership with ability and experience to lead the company from its present state. To change the traditional ways of engineering requires a great deal of skills. To implement creativity and innovation, an environment of innovation has to be created where there is recognition for creativity. Most companies fail to take new challenges as they fear failure and fear to take risk.

6.3.2) communicate the ideas to stakeholders

Stakeholders are those individual, group or bodies that have an interest in an organisation. Stakeholders can affect or be affected by the organization's actions, objectives and policies. An example of key stakeholders are creditors, directors, employees, government (and its agencies), owners (shareholders), suppliers, unions and the community from which the business draws its resources.

For Nokia the most important stakeholders are its higher management which defines the way in which companies operates. Secondly the customers are also essential stakeholders for Nokia and for Nokia to strive in this market; it has to win the trust of its existing customers and expand its customer base.

We would implement stakeholder analysis tool that identify and assess the importance of key employees and group of people which influence Nokia’s business activity.

According to the Nokia’s business activity we have identify higher management as the Primary Stake holders who have high stake and high power. These are the most important people that need to be delegated about the innovation process.

Motivation

Articulating the new creative and innovative ideas requires motivation. In order to pursue its Primary Stakeholders to incorporate Android and Windows Phone OS in it hardware we require motivation for them to understand that a change is needed.

This innovation would give Nokia an edge over its customers who only offer a fixed OS for the phones.

Past Performance

To involve stakeholders of Nokia, some of the systems that could be used are system analysis and system modelling. Analysis of the past performance gives Nokia unique insights of where they went wrong and it give them an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. That is why some of the smartest companies actually celebrate their success along with their failures, as failures give them a unique learning experience which is used as a warning to avoid future mistakes. 

Team briefings

Team briefings are the best ways to communicate ideas to stakeholders. Holding team briefings and then to communicate these creative and innovative management ideas with stakeholders are some of the methodologies that could be deployed by Nokia.

Competitor Analysis

If we do an analysis of the competitors we understand that their competitors like Apple and Samsung have produced beautiful phones with powerful apps that have facilitated the lives of millions of mobile phone users. This leads us to convince the primary stakeholders that Nokia need to incorporate multiple OS in its hardware and offer its customers a choice to choose whichever platform they would like to use in their Nokia phones.

Social media, presentations, coaching and mentoring are some dependable means by which creative and innovative ideas can be communicated to the stakeholders. The higher officials should schedule regular meetings to discuss how things are going. Review any quantity and quality measures that are relevant.

(6.3.3, 6.3.4) Using one change model to support and establish the implementation of the creative and innovative management ideas

Since Nokia is struggling to cope with the challenges posed by the existing telecom companies who are dominating the mobile market through innovation, a change is required in order to bring Nokia to a position that it once holds.

This change is the introduction and implementation of new creative and innovative ideas like incorporating Multiple OS and Monetising Nokia Apps Market.

The model applicable to Nokia in the light of current situation is ADKAR Model which describes how innovation and creative management ideas can be implemented from their concept to implementation. The ADKAR Model simplifies this by defining each step in a holistic way.

Awareness

From ADKAR change model’s initial block we recognise that awareness should be created among the stakeholders of Nokia so that they are aware of why the incorporating Multiple OS are required and what would be involved with them.

Also the need to monetise Nokia Apps Market is also required as the competitors like Apple and Google have successfully implemented this model where the app developers can earn revenue from various sources like Ads, Subscriptions and downloads. This encourages app developers to further produce innovative apps which facilitate the end users.

Nokia employees would need to be aware of this fact that there are millions of downloads done on Apples App Store and Google Play and they would have to come with similar strategies like their competitors to stay in the competition.

There should be awareness among stakeholders before any new change is propagated. It’s all about letting stakeholders know that why a change in Operating Systems is needed and what will be the advantages associate to it.

This would give them knowledge of what is the risk of not applying the new innovative ideas.

Desire

By making aware to stakeholders about the advantages of incorporating multiple OS and monetising Nokais Apps Market there will be a desire among them to support the change.  It could also provoke a desire among them for the change when they have an awareness of why the change is necessary.

Creative and innovative ideas are most critical in any business today. The ADKAR model states that there should be a desire among the stakeholders to implement a change in their systems and they need to participate in that change to support it. This would only be possible if they are already aware of why the change is needed.

With Nokia, the innovation is inevitable now specifically in Multiple OS technology. Nokia has shown positive signs in its desire to adapt to new creative and innovative ideas. Their deal with Microsoft has been a positive change and this has shifted technology paradigms for Nokia. Considering the fact that Microsoft's annual innovation budget is around $10 Billion. Software innovation is at the heart of Microsoft’s business (Microsoft, 2013). With Microsoft on board with Nokia, Nokia has a very good chance to use the expertise of Microsoft’s innovation and incorporate Windows OS in their phones along with Android OS. 

Knowledge

Knowledge in the context of ADKAR Model is defined as information that is required on how to change, how to implement the creative and innovative ideas.

Specific knowledge about Operating Systems, Engineering and Application Marketing is required on how to accomplish the tasks that are involved in this process. This could be attained by investing in research and development and by hiring the best talent from around the world. This could also be done by headhunting the competitors main engineers in this field.

Change requires a deeper understanding of the whole system, its policies, processes and procedures. The knowledge of what the proposed solution of Multiple OS would offer is required and its future consequences.

Also the knowledge is to be acquired about the advantages of monetising the Nokia’s app market place where developers can get a substantial share for the apps that they submit.

In the case of NOKIA creative and innovative process implementation is eminent across its departments and the way cooperation currently operates.

Understanding  Apps market trends and shifts in user preferences is critical before a new creative and innovative ideas are applied.

Knowledge about new customer’s choice especially in the regions of developing countries of Middle East, Asia and Africa is very vital for Nokia where there is demand for new cheaper, smart mobile devices.

The economical conditions of the world also need to be taken in consideration. Most developers develop apps so that they can earn money. This will boast Nokia’s sales in Asian countries like India, Indonesia and Pakistan.  This knowledge is critical in making decisions before a new creative and innovative process is to be applied.

Ability

The fourth postulate of the ADKAR Model suggests that in order to implement creative and innovative ideas, the ability to implement those processes is required.

We see that Nokia has the ability to produce great smart phones. Nokia already has an Operating System called Symbian which is Java based and is installed in all of its smart phones. Nokia engineering team have been managing and bringing new versions of Symbian for over a decade.

However, Nokia now requires the talent and capacity to implement multiple OS across its new smart phones. This could be a big software and hardware engineering challenge. Nokia would need the ability to overcome the barrier that may restrict the implementation of the new creative ideas involving software and hardware engineering, copyrights, patents disputes and research and development skills.

The ability to utilise skills, execute strategy, and overcome the barriers and to implement the change is required. This ability can be enhanced by various initiatives such as planning, testing, prototyping and executing.

One way to achieve this is by offering employee development plan such as skills training and supervisory skills can increase the ability of workers.

With Microsoft as their strategic partner in technology, Nokia can leverage the expertise of Microsoft in innovation and employee performance management. The symbiosis between Microsoft and Nokia can have a profound effect on the way Nokia currently works.

Reinforcement

It is defined as the process of strengthening. Once the decision has been taken to implement creative and innovative ideas processes, and changes has been made in the engineering  processes then there are mechanisms which required in order to keep that state. This could be achieved by rewards and encouragement.

Once the Nokia Apps Market is monetized, there has to be an eco system which would facilitate both the consumers as well as the producers of the apps. This would require various marketing and sales strategies in order to main this eco system.

Reinforcement is the empowerment of the people. During the reinforcement process its best to constantly monitor innovation and creativity progress in order to encourage and direct employees to the right track.

Schedule regular meetings to discuss how things are going. Review any quantity and quality measures that are relevant. The higher management needs to setup mechanisms to keep the innovation model in place.

It is also a well known fact that Incentives derives behaviours. Setting up mechanisms to reward employees otherwise there is a potential risk that employees may be drifted to old ways.

For Nokia this would mean that they would need to create an environment of innovation like their rivals Apple and Google so that the employees feel motivated that they are making a positive change.  

(6.2.3) Assess and comment on risks and benefits of creative and innovative management ideas for Nokia.

Resistance to change is defined as the action taken by individuals, groups or an organisation when they feel that a change is occurring which will be a threat to them.  

By incorporating multiple OS in its phones, Nokia would be the first mobile phone manufacturer who would be offering its users a choice to choose which platform they would like to use in their phones. Users will be able to switch from one platform to another using the same device. This would give Nokia a unique competitive advantage over its rivals who currently only offer either Android, iOS or Windows Phone OS. 

Lack of Creative Management

The risks come in many different ways most notable is the Nokia’s ability to introduce innovation and creative ideas in the company then take it to the next stage is in itself a huge task which requires exceptional leadership capabilities among the management who implement it. It would require a team work with innovative management.

Lack of Technical Skills

The internal risks that Nokia may suffer from are human factors, technological factors and physical factors. Nokia would require fresh talent with creative and innovative skills. The job cuts in Nokia have already lowered the morale of their current employees.

Resource Implications

In order to innovate, Nokia would need a powerful Research and Development budget in order to incorporate innovative and creative ideas. They would also need to hire more technical staff  from across the world. In current times, when the global economy is in a standstill, it’s very difficult for companies to invest in new ideas.

Encouragement of Employees

It’s a well known fact that Incentives derives behaviours. Setting up mechanisms to reward employees otherwise there is a potential risk that employees may be drifted to old ways.

It’s an “adopt or die” situation for Nokia and the stakeholders would need to realize that the new creative and innovative management style is for their own benefit.

Benefits of innovative and creative management processes

Some of the key benefits that Nokia could enjoy by utilising the creative and innovative ideas is that it could launch these news creative products in market first before their competitors. Hence it gives them a chance to reach the market first and get hold of the market share initially.

Since markets are driven by consumers demand and whoever meets the consumer demands first gets the larger share. This has proven true for Apple and Samsung and this is what is needed by Nokia.

Right now there are no mobile phone manufacturer who are offering multiple OS in their handsets and hence this would give be seen by users as a unique way to get the best of both OS in the market using one smart phone.

Premium Prices

Using the new creative and innovative ideas, and bringing out new innovative products in market first, Nokia can charge premium prices for its products which could boast it revenue figures.

In part, this has to do with increased competition.  With Samsung going all-in against Apple, Google pressing with its Android products, and even Research in Motion trying to get back in the game with its BlackBerry 10, Nokia has to fight a multi-front war but this will give Nokia an unprecedented edge of its competitors who have not thought of this innovation yet.

Large Market Share

Since the smart phone market is huge with estimates that another one billion new users will be getting hold of a smart phone device in next 2 to 3 years ~ by 2015. So the consumer smart phone market is still quite lucrative and most mobile companies are fully aware of these statistics, that is why there is a fierce competition in the mobile market to get the new products launch early with new ideas and innovation that compels the end users to adopt these devices.

Many new developers are busy building apps for the users as it benefits the consumers who uses these apps, plus it provided incentives to app developers who get paid for users who download these apps.

By using these market trends, Nokia could position itself again at the top by introducing new products and features early in the market.

The effect of large volume sales has a positive impact on shareholders as it maximises the shareholder return. This creates new investment opportunities in exploring new ideas and services that people care about.

Increase in Research & Development

Research and development budget can also be increased if the Nokia is making more money. The stock value rises and gross margins increase. The company can also invest in new ventures.

For its shareholders, Nokia could engage in aggressive stock buybacks.  It could also hike its dividend.  But for consumers and for those concentrating on their finances rather than on the stock price, the best thing Nokia could do is continue developing cutting-edge products that expand its stellar ecosystem and continue to get consumers on board.

Increased employee motivation and morale

By implementing the proposed creative and innovative ideas, Nokia can keep coming up ways of bringing new innovation in its products and this also increases employee motivation and morale.

When the staffs know they work in a company that values creativity and innovation then they feel more motivated to work and hence it increases the productivity of an organisation.

People love to work in companies which play an important part in the lives of millions of people every day.

d) Assess and comment on barriers of creative and innovative management ideas for Nokia. (6.4.1)

Barriers

Some of the barriers that may hinder the implementation of creative and innovative management ideas in Nokia are the traditional ways of thinking and working. This is one the main obstacles for Nokia as they would need to break from traditional incumbent system and adopt new ways to move the company forward.

Market Analysis

Another potential barrier and obstacle for Nokia is the failure to analyse the current market trends. This barrier needs to be addressed by adopting appropriate measure to understand the market trends and then behaving accordingly.

The implementation of multiple OS in its smart phones and monetising the apps market place requires a thorough market analysis and weather it’s feasible to implement such ideas.

If Nokia does not keep up with changing market trends, user preferences and behaviour then it allows their competitors to offer services which people care about and this has been a major source of downfall for Nokia.

As Nokia missed big trends like adopting open source app development platform Android which allows people to publish app in the apps market.

Nokia also missed the opportunity to offer beautiful and sleek smart phones with design and aesthetics that Apple offered its customers in shape of iPhone. This created a huge gap between Nokia and the mobile phone consumers who went along with companies that offered them products and services that was needed.

Poor leadership

Poor leadership style is also another barrier that needs to be addressed by the Nokia. Leadership plays an important role in any organisation. An organisation can be as forward thinking as its leadership. The best organisations, institutions, firms of the world are those who have a forward thinking leadership who can foresee the direction of the company and plan accordingly.

Nokia require Google’s style of innovative and creative management where there is a very flat structure among the organisation and employees are given power to make decisions. Google’s management style is a combination of democratic and free-rein leadership style which Nokia needs to adopt and be flexible.  

No recognition for creativity

Recognition of creativity is another barrier for Nokia as there are intelligent people in every organisation around the world, but most are failing to recognise their potential and this can be a setback for the company. This is another barrier for Nokia that hinders its way towards creativity and innovation.

Business culture

In Nokia, there are still traces of a mentality or business culture that stems from the organisation’s history as a mobile phone maker monopoly. This mentality does not fit well with the new business logic of dynamic and customised solutions where customers are offered new and innovative products from many competitors.

Fear of Trying

Most corporations fell in the trap of being so much engaged with their current ways of working that they fear change and fear of trying something new. This has happened to Nokia as well. To break this fear the higher administration of Nokia would require efficient leadership which would have the courage to make strategically creative decisions and then wait for them to come into shape.

6.4.2) Plan a strategy to overcome identified barriers to the implementation of a creative and innovative management idea in Nokia

Encouragement and Empowering People

In order to overcome the barriers which are identified in the creative and innovative process we suggest that first of all Nokia should adopt a style of leadership which encourages innovation and creativity and it allows new ideas to flourish, hence increasing productivity.

A creative environment also requires rethinking organisational designs. Managing creativity is as much as art as science. Creative people are driven by exciting work more than by a paycheck, and they need to express themselves through their work.

Management must have vision and leadership and the workspace environment has to be favourable for its employees.

Marketing

Nokia also needs powerful marketing team which can portray the true innovation that it produces. In a competitive world, good marketing is the innovators most important key to insure success.  The two innovations i.e. Multiple OS and Monetization of App Market place would need to reach out to public in order for them to participate in it before the competitors catch up. Nokia needs to make sure that it uses all the available marketing tools to reach the broader range of customers.

Market Analysis

We concluded that Nokia needs to address the issue of market and competitor analysis. Nokia was the world's largest vendor of mobile phones from 1998 to 2012. But now Samsung have surpassed Nokia to become world’s largest maker of mobile phone.

 e) Explain and communicate to stakeholders how a strategy plan for overcoming barriers will ensure innovative change is achieved at Nokia. (6.4.3, 6.4.3)

To communicate to stakeholders about the current innovative and creative plans, we would use stakeholder analysis tool to identify the major stakeholders in Nokia who plays an important role in the company.

Nokia’s primary stakeholders are those key people and groups that significantly influence the success of Nokia. The major stakeholders for Nokia are its board of directors and other higher management.  These internal customers have the power to promote and approve the products, make demands for new products and services.

The higher management have the impact on company’s products, they have the credibility and resources to lead company, implement its policies and procedures, inspire and motivate others and shape the future of the company. Thus the higher management are key stakeholders that would need strong convincing to understand the barriers that are affecting the change in the organisation. With stakeholders help and support Nokia could be on its way to success.

By making aware to stakeholders about the change there will be a desire among them to support the change.  It could also provoke a desire among them for the change when they have an awareness of why the change is necessary.

Team Meetings

To communicate with stakeholders the best way is to schedule team meetings and team briefings where they are educated about the changes that are inevitable for Nokia in current times.

There is an old saying that “If people are threaten with prospect of extinction, they will tend to compete ferociously”

Nokia has lost more than 70 billion Euros in market value since Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, taking the lead in smart phone innovation (Bloomberg, 2013). So now it’s an “adopt or die” situation for Nokia and the stakeholders would need to realize that change is for their own benefit.

Motivating the stakeholders

Creative and innovative management style is all about inspiring people, and what you inspire them to do, how you make them feel and how you articulate this vision of where they should go. Its about creating an environment where creativity and innovation could be produced.  

If there is a goal, and that goal is overarching and if that matters stakeholders and get stakeholders excited about it then they naturally want to pursue it.

Incentives and Employee Rewards

It’s a well known fact that Incentives derives behaviours. Setting up mechanisms to reward employees otherwise there is a potential risk that employees may be drifted to old ways.

For Nokia this would mean that they would need to create an environment of innovation like their rivals Apple and Google so that the employees feel motivated that they are making a positive change.

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