Case Study
Shifting from Interdependence to Independence Within A Rapidly Evolving Industry
Untether Nokia Music’s streaming services from Nokia only devices and software l platforms to allow it to scale in a globally competitive market.
Designed and delivered an organization-wide collaborative design process focused on creating the cultural and structural conditions for the division to reinvent itself as an independent, entrepreneurial venture with the capacity to scale and worthy of acquisition.
Nokia Music was rebranded as Mix Radio and later sold to Microsoft Corporation together with Nokia's handset business. Shortly thereafter, Japan’s Line Corporation acquired Mix Radio, which was the desired outcome for Microsoft and the MixRadio team.
Untether Nokia Music’s streaming services from Nokia only devices and software l platforms to allow it to scale in a globally competitive market.
Designed and delivered an organization-wide collaborative design process focused on creating the cultural and structural conditions for the division to reinvent itself as an independent, entrepreneurial venture with the capacity to scale and worthy of acquisition.
Nokia Music was rebranded as Mix Radio and later sold to Microsoft Corporation together with Nokia's handset business. Shortly thereafter, Japan’s Line Corporation acquired Mix Radio, which was the desired outcome for Microsoft and the MixRadio team.
Nokia Music was a business unit inside Nokia delivering globally competitive content streaming services. Nokia Music’s services were captive to Nokia devices and software platforms used by Nokia while competing digital music services such as Spotify and Pandora were platform agnostic and available on iOS and Android platforms and devices. Nokia Music was facing the inevitability that Nokia would lose the platform race with IOS and Android. The unit’s leadership concluded that an independent strategy for the digital music business was the only pathway to success.
Coeuraj designed a phased approach that would allow Nokia Music to redefine itself and develop strategies for success as an independent business unit. We held strategy sessions to prepare the organization to live inside Nokia as its own brand with its own identity and business model.
The team collaboratively framed a distinct set of corporate values and strategic principles to ready the organization to operate as an independent company. They created a new plan covering all aspects of the business: strategy, brand, product roadmap, technology strategy, and independent entrepreneurial culture.
Out of this work, the Mix Radio brand was born. The newly created Mix Radio business was sold to Microsoft Corporation. A strategy session with the whole Mix Radio X Microsoft team provided direction, energy, and excitement about the future and fostered alignment and commitment at a time of significant change. Shortly after, Japan’s Line Corporation acquired Mix Radio, the desired outcome for Microsoft and the MixRadio team.
[Coeuraj] has helped to make this transformation an exciting, unifying journey across the organization. They are at the leading edge of modern organizational thinking and their commitment to their customer organizations is second to none.
— Jyrki Rosenberg, VP Entertainment, Microsoft