I guess you haven´t heard of NokiaLand before? The
naming NokiaLand has to do with the worlds big-gest handset
manufacturer Nokia and Finland, the country it comes from.
Nokia
Nokia has not always been a world leader in cell phones,
digital technologies, telecommunications networks, wireless
data solutions and high tech gadgets like the Nokia 770
Internet Tablet. Some 100 years ago the company was
manufacturing paper, toilet paper, galoshes, tires and
raincoats.
Finland
Thanks to Nokia Finland has become one of the
fastest-growing and most prosperous economies in Europe. And
Nokia phones have a dominant market position on its home
market. This is why Finland is sometimes referred to as
NokiaLand.
In the 1980s Finland was best known for its paper and
pulp industries and long dark winters. At the same time
Nokia made the decision to shift its company focus from
timber, tires, and rubber boots to mobile phones. Good move
- today the company sells more phones than any other company
in the world.
The Nokia success story had an enormous impact on the
finnish economy. Nokia increased the finnish GDP by more
than 1.5 percent in 1999 alone. In 2004 Nokia's share of the
Finnish GDP was 3.5 percent and accounted for almost a
quarter of Finnish exports in 2003. Last year more than 20
000 people were employed by Nokia in Finland which is
roughly 2 percent of the people in the Finnish business
sector. Also several tiny companies such as Perlos have
grown into large ones as Nokia subcontractors.
As Nokia´s profits grew, the Nokia share price increased
and this also created a large number of new very rich
households in NokiaLand – thanks to Nokia.
The President
Believe it or not there was a secret plan some 5 years
ago in NokiaLand to put Jorma Ollila, CEO of Nokia as
president of Finland. This did not work out, but if it had
we surely would have had our NokiaLand. The story was
revealed when Sauli Niinistö published his memoirs this
summer. He writes that he had asked Jorma Ollila, the chief
executive of Nokia, to run for president in the 2000
presidential election. According to Mr Niinistö, Mr Ollila
pondered over the matter when Niinistö made him the offer
in the spring of 1999. As we all know Mr Ollila didn´t go
for it!
This article was posted on December 13, 2005
