Today, when they think smartphones, most people think of Apple's iPhone or Samsung's Galaxy. Most would find it hard to believe that little more than a decade ago, Finnish electronics company Nokia was the hands-down market leader in mobile phones. At its peak, one in three of the world's active mobile phones bore the Nokia name and logo, and Nokia was selling a half-billion new phones each year throughout the world. In fact, Nokia sold more phones than its then-three-closest rivals- Samsung, Motorola, and Sony-Ericsson-combined. With more than 50 percent of the mobile phone market, Nokia was the world's fifth-most-valuable brand, valued at $34 billion-double the value of number 21 Samsung and triple that of number 33 Apple. Not only did Nokia lead the market in sales, but Nokia and Motorola are credited with inventing the technologies that continue to power the most state-of-the-art smartphones. But today, hardly anyone even recognizes Nokia as a phone maker. Given its current absence from the hot mobile phone category, you might think that Nokia has gone the way of other once-mighty brands such as Kodak or Sears. But, in fact, Nokia is thriving-not as a phone manufacturer but as a market-leading supplier of network infrastructure for industrial telecommunications service providers. How did Nokia escape extinction and rise to market leadership in a different industry? The answer lies in a long and difficult transformation and reinvention.

Small group exercise: Even as Nokia has found a new footing, its history of rapid decline in the smartphone industry hangs heavy on its top management. As part of Nokia’s strategic planning process, its CEO has asked your team to advise the company on what it should do to reduce the likelihood of being sideswiped again by new technologies and industry developments. Present a set of tangible ideas for the CEO’s consideration.