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Nokia collapsed after replacing engineer executives with non-technical lawyers and accountants

Richard Rumelt · Good Strategy, Bad Strategy | Richard Rumelt · Jan 21, 2024 · at 1:19:55

Author and strategist Richard Rumelt analyzes the strategic and organizational decisions that led to Nokia losing its smartphone dominance.

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“One way it happened was they replaced the engineers who used to run the company with lawyers and accountants. Nothing wrong with lawyers and accountants, but they didn't have a feel for this hardware software set of issues. And another was they put in a matrix organization that so diffused power Inside the organization that nobody was actually in charge of it in particular.”

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