Research
and development, so critical to Nokia’s success in the past, is taking another
knock from the accountants.
Following
the lead set by the car industry, Nokia have decided to temporarily lay off
employees at their manufacturing site in Salo to bring production in line with
demand. This mainly affects high end
handsets which are viewed as particularly susceptible in the current recession.
Potentially
more problematic is the mobile device R&D centre at Jyväskylä will be
closed affecting the 320 employees based there.
Nokia admit that the Jyväskylä team has been contributed to the success
of many of their hit products. So is it
a good idea to disband a successful team especially as the success of Nokia has
been in its innovation? Time will tell.