Switching Suppliers at Nokia (Case 2014-02)

Case summary

John Ellenberger, Director of Engineering at Nokia, is in the woes of planning the 2.0 release of Nokia’s highly successful multimedia messaging service (MMS) software. He needs to pay special attention to the software supply chain, specifically the vendor providing the database software that Nokia’s product is building on. The vendor is in financial troubles and its product is having performance problems. Yet, switching to a more expensive alternative has its own challenges. Just what to do?

Example case question [1]

  • What should Ellenberger do?

Case difficulty cube [2]

  • Analytical dimension: Easy
  • Conceptual dimension: Easy
  • Presentation dimension: Easy

Freely available materials

Materials for lecturers