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1. INTRODUCTION In a global economy, the success of a business goes beyond just fulfilling the needs of its customers. To survive in this internet age, a company must be able to provide a product or service that is in-tune with the ever-changing consumer taste. Innovation is no longer just a catch word but a necessity.
In this essay, we will do a case study on Nokia Corporation (Nokia), the world leading mobile phone maker known for its high quality and versatile mobile phone products. We hope that through a detailed study of Nokia's design of product and service, much insight could be gained on how Nokia managed to turn itself from a small Finnish company to a mobile phone giant. The finding should be interesting and relevant to any company who inspires to become a global giant. 2. BACKGROUND OF NOKIA Nokia's business objective is to strengthen its position as a leading systems and product supplier in the rapidly evolving global communications industry. Nokia's strategic intent is to strive for leadership in the most attractive global communications segments through speed in anticipating and fulfilling evolving customer needs, quality in products and processes, as well as openness with people and to new ideas and solutions. Nokia is named after a lumber mill built on the banks of the Nokia River in southern Finland in 1865.
Its current business, cellular telephones, has evolved from the Finnish Cable Works in 1967, its very first venture into the electronics business. Today, Nokia is a giant in the communication world, offering products and services in mobile and broadband networks, mobile phones, mobile internet and messaging, WAP, digital home communications, virtual private network, IP solution, convergence, professional mobile radio, and many more. At the end of 2000, Nokia has established in over 130 countries with 23 production facilities in 10 countries and a workforce of 60, 289. Nokia has 55 R& D centers in 15 countries, a global network of distribution, sales and customer services, as well as other operational units. Nokia also sees its sales reaching EUR 30. 4 billion (USD 27. 0 billion) in the same year, firmly establishing itself as the biggest mobile phone manufacturers in the world. Not surprising, it has also captured the largest share in Europe's mobile phone market. 3.
ANALYSIS OF PRODUCT AND PROCESS DESIGN Right from the beginning, Nokia knew it was working in an industry where rapid changes in technology and customer preferences were constantly making phone models obsolete. To stay competitive, Nokia rolls out new models to the market faster than any one else, typically 24 different models a year. To maintain its dominance, Nokia must continue to look for ways to improve itself. In the coming sections, an attempt will be made to give a full analysis of Nokia's product and process design, and finally a recommendation will be made based on the findings obtained. 3. 1 Product Strategy Under the Product Life Cycle (PLC) theory, there are 4 distinctive stages: i. e. start-up, rapid growth, maturity and decline.
To maximize the revenue and capture the biggest market share, different marketing and product strategies will be employed at each of these stages. With the rapid change in technology and customers preferences, the PLC of new products has been reduced from years to just months. Most Nokia products went obsolete in less than a year. Due to this product characteristic, Nokia has developed the following product strategies to achieve its business objective and strategic intent: l Product Diversification - Develop new technologies that lead to new products l Market Diversification - Venture into the lucrative international markets which offer high growth rate 3. 2 Product Design Process Nokia endorses Dr. Robert Cooper's product design / development process model which consists of 13 phases: Initial Screening Prelim Mkt Assess Prelim Tech Assess Detailed Mkt Study Pre design Bsn/Fin Analysis Product Design In-house Product Tests Customer Product Tests Trial Sell Trial Production Pre-commercialization Bsn An Production Start-up Market Launch 3. 2. 1 A Cyclic Activity Pentti Route (2001) suggests that Product design in a mature, competitive operating business is an interminable, cyclic activity. In Nokia, an existing product provides the inspiration for its new series.
By repeating the 13 phases of PDP model, new products have been successfully developed and released to the market continuously. 3. 2. 2 Connecting People Nokia's slogan is "connecting people", and it is the quintessence through the process of design and manufacture process. As the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, Nokia design its technology around human needs. Its mission is to make it easy for people to connect with each other - and to a range of information, entertainment and other wireless services C at any time, wherever they are. Nokia treats its customers like King. It encourages customers' participation in the whole product design process. Customers are also welcomed to give their feedback at different phases.
Nokia has been using QFD (Quality Function Deployment) since mid 1990 s, after its successful introduction into the US automobile industry, in the mid 1980 s. Arthur V. Hill (2001) suggests QFD is the only comprehensive quality system aimed specifically at satisfying the customer and focuses on delivering value by seeking out both spoken and unspoken needs, translating these into design targets, and communicating this throughout the organization. It addresses several areas of Nokia's product development process. 1. Identify normal, expected, and exciting requirements. 2. Determine the benefits, features, and hidden feature requirements of the product 3.
Receive Feedback from customers about important features, rating of its existing products and competitors' product comparison. 4. Improve weak or under performing features 5. Assure the products is able to deliver its quality features The above gave us a big picture on why and how Nokia competes on speed. It keeps up with the technology but is not always the leaders in the latest technology. Nokia mobile phones always gave the customers a trendy impression. They have a sleek design and interchangeable colorful covers.
Chief designer Nuovo, who has been employed full-time since 1995, controls all the designs for the outer appearance of the phones. Design ideas come from all over, yet he has the final choice, and is responsible for the continuity of the face and soul of the product. As far as the inside of the phone goes, Nokia is committed to open standards and interoperability in wireless. It works with competitors to develop shared systems and standards as Nokia strongly believes that the better the mobile phone system network works, the more people will want to buy them. However, in order to stay on top of the competition, Nokia constantly develops more innovative and attractive products than its competitors. 3. 2. 3 Cost Issue As mentioned, Nokia is competing in the international markets where competition is cut-throat.
The factor of cost is very important as at least 2 of the 13 Product Design phases are directly involved in financial and cost analysis. Nokia has already been producing digital phones using the GSM system for European market. It also produces mobile phones using TDMA and PDS systems for US and Japan markets. Although each of them is using different digital standards, it retains the distinguished sleek Nokia outlook. This not only enhances its corporate identity in various markets, it also helps reduce the production cost. By entering to all the international markets, Nokia is able to monitor the technology development and product innovations in each market and cross-sell to the other markets. 3. 2. 4 Environmental Issue Environmental issue has become more and more important nowadays.
Nokia is highly regarded for its achievement...
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Research essay sample on Mobile Phone Product Design
