Nokia Corporation (OMX: NOK1V) announced it is cutting 4000 jobs at its factories in Komarom, Hungary, Reynosa, Mexico and Salo, Finland. These factories shall focus on smartphone product customization going forward with device assembly transferred to factories in Asia. It seems that only Manaus factory in Brazil will go ahead full steam outside of the largest continent.
Planned personnel cuts in Salo amount to about 1000 people, leaving just several hundred left. Salo factory has been the symbol of Nokia’s rise to fame. Right now Nokia has clearly lost its corporate identity and is trying to be born anew. Salo factory is also the last of its kind in the entire Western Europe. Until very recently and to some extent even now, Made in Finland tag has been a major selling point in Asia. The fact that Nokia is now doing away with that underscores the fact that the company no longer believes it will be associated as top notch even in Asia
Nokia says that these personnel reduction are planned through the end of this year with the company offering local support programs. Nokia has tried to learn from past PR nightmares related to such closures (eg. Nokia Bochum) and apparently therefore instead of pulling the plug immediately, leaves the factories on life support for now. The stock opened with 1% gain.
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