D Shivakumar, the current Managing Director and Vice President for Nokia India, has been elevated to head of Nokia’s business throughout Africa and Middle East, a roster of around 90 countries. This move consolidates Nokia’s markets into four distinct blocks – Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific (including China) and IMEA (India, Middle East and Africa). The IMEA is one of the fastest emerging markets and the handset manufacturer is looking to regain its top position against the backdrop of slowing markets in Europe and US. Shivakumar who will be operating out of Dubai in his new position, will be battling competition from local manufacturers and elevating Nokia’s position in these regions.
Shivakumar had taken over the Indian Operations in 2006 and it was under him that the manufacturer also set up a unit in Chennai. Incidentally, Nokia also announced plans to close its manufacturing facilities in Europe and the US, which presents the opportunity for the Indian factory to become the leading manufacturing unit for the company. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Shivakumar said that the Chennai unit had become the world’s largest cell phone factory. It supplies phones to more than 50 countries, has generated direct employment for about 10,000 people and indirect employment for 100,000 people. This superior position will give the company an opportunity to build it as a super factory, he said.
Shivakumar, who holds a degree in management and engineering, was heading the Consumer Electronics division of Philips prior to joining Nokia. He also comes with experience in various roles in the FMCG giant Hindustan Lever.
On Nokia’s strategy, he stressed that the launch of Nokia’s Windows phone early next year in partnership with Microsoft will hold the key for growth in the burgeoning smartphone market, estimated by the research firm IDC to grow almost 70% a year until 2015. Interestingly, Nokia has been an ardent stickler to the Symbian OS in its smartphones, in contrast to its competitors like Samsung and LG, who are riding the smartphone bandwagon on the Android platform.
Nokia has been facing stiff competition in the past few years from Indian and Chinese handset manufacturers in the bottom end with players like Samsung, HTC and Apple battling it out in the top end. Despite the slide in market share, Nokia still dominates the Indian market with a supreme share of 39%.
