How Nokia Thrives By Breaking the Rules
One of the interesting things about Nokia is that they do their own manufacturing. Even though their factories are in expensive places like Finland, the US and Germany, they still have the highest margins on their products. The secret seems to be super flexible manufacturing. To date they have managed to reduce costs, increase margins and add new handsets to the mix. But can they keep this pace as the handset market continues to get more fragmented and new players continue to enter? Probably, until a disruptive technology or product design comes alongs and challenges their assumptions about what most people want. Because even though they are great at manufacturing, its their strong brand and product design that allows them to stay ahead.
