14 DAY TRIAL // There have been many debates regarding Stephen Elop’s role in Nokia’s takeover by Microsoft, but most of the statements and rumors did not have any research base.
However, it looks like two journalists from the Finnish business daily Kauppalehti did a lot of research among ex-Nokia employees who worked for the company during Elop’s years, and put all their findings in a book, Yle.fi reports.
Dubbed “Operation Elop,” the book tries to convince Finns and the rest of the world that Stephen Elop was merely a bad CEO and not Microsoft’s Trojan horse.
Sorry, you all adepts of some of the craziest conspiracy theories, but it looks like the truth is simpler than we would have thought. According to Pekka Nykänen and Merina Salminen, “Elop is one of the world’s worst – if not the worst – chief executives.”
Their bold statement is supported by the more than 100 interviews from Nokia employees or people with knowledge in the matter. Although the number of people who referred to Elop’s leading abilities as being very bad hasn’t been mentioned, the conclusion suggests it’s the vast majority.
Another reason why the authors of the book see Elop as one of world’s worst CEOs is not necessarily his inability to keep Nokia on a floating line, but the fact that during his three years of working for the handset maker it took the Finnish company from a market valuation of €29.5 billion ($37.4 billion) to only €11 billion ($14 billion).
“When Elop started (in 2010) Nokia’s smartphone sales were growing. Elop’s job was to plug the holes. No explanations needed. He failed on his own,” write the authors in the book.
Nokia board and chairman Risto Siilasmaa sold the company to Microsoft
Even so, based on the statements of those interviewed, Stephen Elop did not sell Nokia to Microsoft and wasn’t a Trojan horse who infiltrated the Finnish company to allow the Redmond-based company to purchase the Finnish company at a discount.
The truth is more mundane than anyone would think and that’s the fact that Elop made “monumental mistakes” during his leadership at Nokia which, even if they were made in “good faith,” ultimately led to the company’s demise.
Apparently, it was Nokia’s chairman Riso Siilasmaa and the company’s board that has decided to sell off the phone business to Microsoft.
Evidently, the conclusion of the book can’t be more positive for Nokia’s ex-CEO: “Elop was the wrong man to lead Nokia. Someone else could have saved Nokia’s phone business.”