At the Academy of Management’s 2018 meeting in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on 12 August 2018, it was announced that the winner of the annual George R. Terry Book Award for best management book over the past two years was “Ringtone: Exploring the Rise and Fall of Nokia in Mobile Phones” by INSEAD’s Professor Yves Doz and senior researcher Keeley Wilson.
In selecting ‘Ringtone’ the judging committee noted “the depth of the case study, the scholarly argument and the insightful account explaining the rise and fall of Nokia”.
However, Ringtone is much more than a book about Nokia. As other reviewers have commented, the lessons put forward in Ringtone are critical and of relevance to most companies today: Robert Burgelman of Stanford University wrote, “Their book will become an indispensable reference for the study of managerial responses to technological disruption”, while according to Ranjay Gulati of Harvard Business School, “By showcasing the enablers and disablers of this once powerful company, readers can perhaps learn to achieve the elusive goal of building organisations that last!”
About the George R. Terry Book Award:
The Academy of Management's George R. Terry Book Award is conferred annually to the book judged to have made the most outstanding contribution to the global advancement of management knowledge during the last two years. Books that contribute to the advancement of management theory, conceptualisation, research, or practice are eligible for this prestigious award. To be considered for the award, submissions must be authored books published within the preceding two years.
About Ringtone:
In less than three decades, Nokia emerged from Finland to lead the mobile phone revolution. It grew to have one of the most recognisable and valuable brands in the world and then fell into decline, leading to the sale of its mobile phone business to Microsoft. Ringtone explores and analyses that journey and distils observations and learning points for anyone keen to understand how the interplay between strategic insights, organisational choices, behaviour and emotional engagement can drive competitive outcomes both good and bad.
Ringtone opens the proverbial “black box” of why and how things actually happen at the top of organizations. It offers valuable lessons for managers, executives and corporate strategists. It is a must read for anyone wanting to either forge or maintain a leading position in their industry in light of the rapid advancement of technology, market change and growing complexities.
To find out more about the book, visit here.
