The Rise and Fall of Nokia: A cautionary tale for innovation programmes

How did a company with a thriving innovation culture that invented one of the most important items of the past 50 years deflate into a shadow of if its former self?

The BBC Four documentary, The Rise and Fall of Nokia, tells this story from the inside. Founded in 1865 as a pulp mill, Nokia moved into mobile phones in the 1970s and became the market leader. By 2013 Nokia had sold the mobile phone business. So what happened?

For anyone that came of age at the turn of the millennium, it’s hard not watch without getting a pang of nostalgia for the days when a mobile phones’ primary uses were discovering the freedom of texting your friends, ordering ringtones from adverts from the back J17 magazine, and playing Snake II for hours on end. No notifications, no group chat, no social media. You were often short of credit, but you never ran out of battery.

Nokia staff interviewed in the documentary shared a wistful longing for this early era of innovation, describing how they were welcomed, included and given opportunities.

The invention of the mobile phone began in 1972 when an employee improvised a way to solve a problem. A sales manager had packed up a car phone because people had wanted a phone in other places, such as their holiday cottage, boat or…