Nokia screwed big time; 10k job cuts planned
In an attempt to still survive, Finnish cell phone manufacturer Nokia has announced a significant number of job cuts today. The troll is 10,000 but that’s not all. A reshuffling at the top management accompanies this as well. The roadmap for this job cut is 2013.
Another one bites the dust would be the Lumia smartphones which are planned to sell at prices lesser than the current rates. This move is to ensure more attraction from consumers. Nokia also has plans for licensing its mapping technology to other industries.
This job cut would hit Finland majorly where Nokia will close its manufacturing facility in Salo, and in German and Canada where R&D sites will also be shut down. IT systems would be consolidated, corporate and support functions would be streamlined; stated Nokia.
Several long-serving senior executives have made way for new blood, most notably Niklas Savander, EVP Markets and Mary McDowell, EVP Mobile Phones. Savander has been with Nokia for 16 years, in that time managing the Mobile Devices unit, Enterprise Solutions and Technology Platforms. McDowell, meanwhile, joined Nokia to head the Enterprise unit in 2004.
Executives on the way up in this latest reshuffle include Juha Putkiranta as EVP Operations; Timo Toikkanen as EVP Mobile Phones; Chris Weber as EVP Sales and Marketing; Tuula Rytila as SVP Marketing and CMO; and Susan Sheehan as SVP Communications.
Since Stephen Elop assumed control of Nokia in September 2010, some observers have pointed towards a decline in the number of natives in senior positions at Finland’s biggest brand. The latest round of appointments goes some way to addressing this issue.
Gartner handset analyst Caronlina Milanesi accentuated the positive, saying that Nokia was evolving into a “slender more agile company focusing on opportunities to differentiate, such as imaging and maps.”
Ankur
