Clear
and transparent communication from the top levels of both companies,
post the September 2 announcement of Microsoft's intent to buy Nokia's
handset business, helped allay fears and uncertainty among the Finnish
device maker's staff and customers in India.
"(Nokia's)
Stephen Elop and (Microsoft's) Steve Ballmer's communication on how it
was a win-win deal for both the companies and how we all had to continue
focusing on our work was very clear. We were told the exact position in
as many words and given a set of dos and don'ts," P Balaji, Nokia's
India head told ET.
Breaking his silence on how
Nokia's employees and partners took to the $7.2-billion deal news,
Balaji said it was a critical moment for the entire team but the anxiety
among employees and partners that logically followed the announcement
was soon put to rest. "We were told that the likely regulatory approvals
would come in the following quarters into 2014, and among the 'don'ts',
we had been asked to not start to think too much ahead of the time and
to continue working as two separate units until the approvals came in,"
he said. The companies expect the deal to close in the first quarter of
2014.
"There was no mixing up, and no,
thankfully no confusion," Balaji said. The company spent the following
days on reaching out to its partners. 'We reached out to our partners —
over 400 in distribution and close to 5,000 partners — and explained the
details of the deal and how it was only for the better," Balaji said,
explaining how the company was able to allay concerns and ensure handset
sales weren't hurt by the news.
Himanshu
Chakravarti, chief executive of The Mobile Store, India's largest modern
trade mobile phone seller, separately said he saw the announcement
early morning, and soon after, received a call from the top management
of Nokia India to explain to him the contours of the deal and how supply
won't be affected at all. "I was satisfied."
Nokia
has long slipped from its leadership position in the Indian market, as
global rivals Samsung, Apple and Sony and home grown players such as
Micromax sped past it. However, piggybacking on its Lumia range of
phones, Nokia's sales have picked up in recent times. It managed to
retain its market share in the July-September period after witnessing a
sharp fall in the fourth quarter last year, according to IDC.
Vipul
Mehrotra, a 16-year veteran at Nokia and currently the company's
director and head of smart devices for India, Middle East and Africa,
described the Microsoft deal as "an emotional moment".
"I
was at Riyadh and a day before the announcement, the news was broken to
us. I had to meet a team from Microsoft the next day and my mind was
flooded with a number of questions, especially on how I would explain
this to my team," Mehrotra said.
"In the next
six weeks we were able to ensure that there was no loss of sales," he
said. He added that both companies continue to function as two separate
independent units until the integration is complete. An impediment to
the smooth integration of the two companies in India was removed when
the Delhi High Court last week allowed Nokia to sell its Chennai factory
to Microsoft, asking income-tax authorities to revoke the freeze on the
handset maker's assets.
