Managing in Troubled Times Case Study

Battery Recall: The NOKIA way

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Abstract:
The case deals with the recall exercise that Nokia Corporation underwent when nearly 46 million batteries turned out to be defective. In August 2007, it was found that the batteries, which were manufactured by Matsushita of Japan, experienced overheating while charging due to a short circuit. Nokia with the help of Matsushita offered to replace for free all BL5C batteries, which were used in the phones. The case also talks about how Nokia became a world leader in the mobile phone industry. It also tells us how this product recall was managed and whether it would do any harm to Nokia's brand image. Whether Nokia would be able to come out even stronger after this recall remains to be seen.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand the competitive advantages of Nokia.
• To understand the effect of the product recall on Nokia's brand image.
• To cdiscuss the steps to be followed during a product recall process.
• To analyse whether Nokia would be able to regain its customers' trust or not.

Keywords : Nokia; Product recall; Battery recall; Matsushita; Disaster management; Disaster recovery management; Mobile phone industry; Growth of Nokia; GSM; Nokia brand image; Nokia product advisory; Battery replacement; Reverse marketing; Voluntary product advisory

Contents:

• Nokia: The World Leader in the Mobile Phone Industry
• Nokia's Battery Recall