Nokia Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Nokia - Case Study Example Based in Espoo, Finland near the city of Helsinki, Nokia is the largest Finnish company with about half of the market capitalization of the Helsinki Stock Exchange or OMX Helsinki playing a major role in the economy of Finland. Nokia have been rated best Finnish brand and employer many times (Wikipedia, 2007). Nokia has research and development, manufacturing and sales representation in many continents with the Nokia Research Center sites in Athens, Helsinki, Tampere Oulu, Tokyo, Beijing, Budapest, Ulm, Bochum, Palo Alto, California, Bangalore, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its major production factories are located in Salo, Finland, Dongguan, China, Chennai, India, Komarom, Hungary and Ruhr, Germany. The Nokia Design Departure is at Salo, Finland (Nokia, 2006). Nokia is comprised of four business groups: the Mobile Phones, Multimedia, Enterprise Solutions and Networks. Its Mobile Phones provide expanding mobile voice and data capabilities across a wide range of mobile devices. Multimedia brings mobile experiences to consumers in advanced mobile devices and applications giving people access and use of multimedia through a range of radio technologies. Enterprise Solutions offer businesses and institutions a broad range of product solutions, including enterprise-grade mobile devices, security infrastructure, software and services and collaborating with companies to provide fixed IP network security, mobilize corporate email and extend corporate telephone systems to Nokia's mobile devices (Nokia, 2006). 2 Current situation In its Annual Information Report, 2006 gained net sales of 41,121 million as compared to 2005's 34,191 million. The operating profit increased from 4,639 million in 2005 to 5,488 million while its operating margin declined from 13.6 to 13.3%. The Earnings per share (diluted) is 1.05 from 0.83 (Nokia, 2006). By the end of 2006, Nokia already has 14 manufacturing facilities in nine countries around the world and research and development in 11 countries employing 68,483 persons. In January 25, 2006, Nokia reported a net sales growth of 11,701 million from its 2005 fourth quarter 10,333 million. Its operating profit grew to 1,519 million from 2005 fourth quarter's 1,368 million. Earnings per diluted share grew to 0.32 from 2005 fourth quarter's .025. The Quarterly and Annual Information reported the following: Net Sales by Business Group Q4 2006 EURm % Mobile Phones 7 076 60 Multimedia 2 136 18 Enterprise Solutions 305 3 Networks 2 184 19 Nokia Group 11 701 100 Source: Nokia, 2006 3 Human Resources Nokia reported to had a year-end employment of 68,483 in its global operations Source: Nokia, 2006 While Nokia provided people friendly devices through their mobile phones and its features, Nokia have constantly earned the trust, respect and confidence of the Finnish as the most sought-after employer (Wikipedia, 2007). The HRMID (2004) also reported that Nokia used its human resources policy in continuing its success. The report noted that Nokia's people policies have played a major role in keeping the company reach its 40% share on the

Agrument against lowering the drinking age to 18 in the United States Essay

Agrument against lowering the drinking age to 18 in the United States - Essay Example A behavioral argument in favor of lowering the drinking age cited the Prohibition experience and Engs (1998), for instance, has this to say: As a nation we have tried prohibition legislation twice in the past for controlling irresponsible drinking problems†¦ These laws were finally repealed because they were unenforceable and because the backlash towards them caused other social problems. Today we are repeating history and making the same mistakes. Intentions behind the above arguments vary and some maybe legitimate as well but the issues raised by those in favor of restricting the age limit for alcohol access to 21 has so far succeeded in presenting a stronger case. The reason for this is simple: the empirical evidences and the statistics point to the fact that lowering the drinking age would have adverse effects on individuals and the society in general. In the United States, the current legal use for alcohol consumption is 21. The statutes covering this prohibition can be considered as those intended to influence individuals in regards to health-related behavior. A short review of its history will reveal that the minimum drinking age was implemented immediately after the Prohibition when all of the US states adopted a stringent policy against youth alcohol consumption. When the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution was introduced, lowering the voting age to 18, a number of states have also lowered the drinking age. But by 1984, the federal government implemented a drive to standardize the minimum drinking age to 21 through a congressional initiative. This has been supported by numerous governmental agencies, organizations and individuals such as the National Transportation Safety Board, the National Council on Alcoholism, the Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving and the American Medical Association. Specifically, according to Wallander and Siegel