Poll: Nortel’s Strategic Focus

By Mark Evans | Published: September 30, 2008

It’s been awhile since the last poll but given the news recently, it seems like the right time to get a sense of how much confidence there is about Nortel’s ability to transform itself into a services and software company with a major focus on the enterprise. (Note: there are two polls)


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  • Another Nortel Watcher

    Mark, this is really two questions: 1) Is it a good thing to do, and 2) Do you think Nortel can successfully execute?

  • Nortelhand

    Mike Z and his team have killed Nortel. Now he needs to find a way to sell this POS off and get something back to the shareholders. Nortel has no chance. Just watch the stock price, Wallstreet knows Nortel has no chance.

    MIKE SELL THIS PIG OFF AND TRY TO GET SOME OF THE SHAREHOLDER'S MONEY BACK!!

  • upupup

    I've been following this site for several months now as I own a significant amount of Nortel shares. I find the site very informative. I have accepted the fact that I will lose money. That's investing for you. What amazes me though is the countless negative people that post on this site. Are you current shareholders…employees…ex-employees??? Why even take the time to post on this site? You are always negative towards positive news and always jump on the bandwagon with negative news. Get a life…if you feel there is no chance for Nortel, sell your stock and move on! There are plenty of other companies out there to put your hundred bucks into!

  • NewBlue

    Unless the strategy involves firing the entire executive team and replacing them with competent leaders who have actual experience with reviving a failing telecomm company, and then tossing out the board somehow, then no…there's pretty much nothing that can be done.

    The strategy put in place by Mike Z has been demonstrably a disaster. There is no workable strategy that this team can dream up. Couple that with the fact that the board is either reluctant or incapable of holding them accountable for their failures, you end up with such a severe hindrance to any forward momentum due to lack of credibility that the spiral of decay and decline won't be able to be broken.

    The parallels between the failure of Nortel and the failure of the American government with respect to the current economic crisis are interesting: complete lack of vision, complete failure of leadership, and total inability of the board/electorate to kick the bums out.

  • NewBlue

    Sure, just sit back and let the PR flacks in the company and who post on this blog continue to paint their rosy scenarios unchallenged? You bet.

    This site consumes all of about 10 minutes or so a day of my life. I have those minutes to spare. I have a life and now that I'm no longer employed at Nortel that life is pretty good. However, I will continue to make an effort at countering the Nortel PR machine and company cheerleaders as I see fit. I don't need you to tell me what to do with my time and energy.

  • Tired

    Your hindsight vision is so perfect. But “countering the PR machine”? Are you serious? Do you really believe that endless negativity with no solution to problems except “sh*tcan everybody” can be considered anything but typical whining? I'll be the first to say that I've not offered anything substantial on this topic either, but at least I'm not one of those current or former employees (or customers) who seems to be dancing at the thought of Nortel ceasing to exist.

  • Nortelhand

    If Mike Z and the “Team” are trying to dump anything that IBM would not want, reduce the debt and clean the remainder up for selling, then I am all for that. If that happens, pehaps Mike Z can get some of the shareholder value back.

  • NewBlue

    It's not hindsight…well, actually, at this point in time it is. But anyone with their eyes open to what's been going on at Nortel for the last several years hasn't needed the benefit of hindsight to see what was going on and where it was heading. It was pretty obvious to anyone who hadn't consumed the kool-aid in mass quantities.

    Endless negativity? You, my friend, have absolutely no idea how hard I tried to get things in my area of responsibility put on a better track towards product development and delivery. The result? Lip service and a solid determination to maintain the status quo, which was (and continues to) killing the group. As far as your interpretation that I am “dancing at the thought of Nortel ceasing to exist”, well…you plainly and simply don't know what you are commenting about. You are as wrong as if you were to say, “Water is not wet.”

    Mike Z's time at the helm has been one unmitigated disaster after the other. The board has been complicit in this. Pointing out those facts is not whining; it's calling a spade a spade. Offering suggestions on how to improve Nortel's situation in the market place is not whining; it's being constructive.

    Finally, your lack of substantive involvement in these discussions is probably indicative of your style of participation in other areas of your life: standing back, watching others engage in discussion, and taking cheap, inconsequential shots at folks who would like to see things change for the better. That's really easy, isn't it? As opposed to, say, coming up with suggestions on how to make things better and making a stand that might be unpopular…but principled.

  • Tongue.In.Cheek

    Maybe a new poll needs to be done on this blog. Just call it, What kind of celebration do you want if Nortel gets destroyed the way most participants here want it destroyed?

    It has become very clear that this blog has no interest in the survival of Nortel nor does it care about anything Nortel attempts to do. Anything they do is considered wrong and bad, because they simply must be destroyed.

    How unfortunate.

  • http://www.allaboutnortel.com Mark Evans

    TIC,

    Don't get me, I would love to see Nortel rebound/thrive given it is Canada's flagship technology company, employs thousands of people, and has spawned hundreds of telecom start-ups over the years.

    The reality is Nortel is struggling. Some of it has to do with strategic execution, some with the technology portfolio, and some with the economic/competitive landscape.

    It is what it is. I have no agenda other than writing about what's happening with Nortel. When Nortel bounces back, I'll cover that as well.

    Mark

  • broadbandbill

    TIC,

    I will take an exception to your comment.

    For info, I know a few people on this blog that ruined and sacrificed relationships trying to help Nortel and its management team by suggesting various strategies, methodologies, personnel, top industry advisors, etc. These efforts, which are based on highly-qualified opinions and bourn out of passion and desire to see Nortel succeed have been met with nothing but ignorance, 80s GE-style lingo, superficial appeasements, self-entitlements, country-club management practices (not exclusive to Nortel) and total disregard for anything that wasn’t created by the World-classers themselves, none of whom are even remotely fit to run a creativity-based company.

    What you are experiencing is the extreme disappointment in the failure of the “revolution leadership” to change things for the better. Fact is this ‘new class’ is no better than the old class (“Fall of the New Class”, Milovan Gjilas; Amazon Books) and those of us that could clearly see the path to self-destruction (along with shareholder value destruction) knew it and tried to stop it. It is not the person that yells ‘fire’ in a crowded theater that wants to see it burn. Net-net: this team doesn’t know what it doesn’t know and has been running in a reactive mode from the get go…-bb

    PS – The unfortunate part is this: there is more wisdom on this blog than in the halls of the executive suites at Nortel.

  • Nortelhand

    Mark,

    Insted of saying “When Nortel bounces back,…”, You should say “If Nortel…”.

    The “IF” is a very big If.

  • Tired

    Perhaps, and only perhaps, I lumped you incorrectly into the pro-doom-and-gloom group. In the event that this is true, my apologies, but some of your comments make it hard to see the difference. Also, I haven't seen anything substantial come from your (at least more recent) posts either. To state that we need a new direction is not a strategy or a plan, especially after the fact. But its possible that if I drilled back further in time, I would have seen more.

    To your point that you tried very hard to affect things in the past in your area of responsibility and only received a nod or a lip service, that is quite sad to me. I suppose someone can only take so much of that before realizing that it's all pointless and that your efforts will never pay off.

    I don't see myself taking cheap shots. Perhaps you do. As for standing back, etc, waiting for others – that's a load of crap. I just don't have any good ideas, or at least any that's better than what some people have already said. If I thought I had something better to offer, I would say it. In the meantime, I guess I'm just taking cheap shots. Really, though, I think I just got pissy at your reply to “upupup”. Taking anti-anxiety pill momentarily.

  • more

    broadbandbill, that is the best executive summary of Nortel's woes in 250 words or less. Well stated.

  • Another Nortel Watcher

    +1 for bb's posted response to TIC.

    I will celebrate if and when MZ and the lightweights he hired are purged from Nortel. Only then will I believe in the possibility of a recovery.

    I feel sorrow for the employees and shareholders who are watching their investments crumble and their careers go up in smoke because a few egos won't admit obvious failure and continue to waste the precious little time and money that Nortel has left.

    I criticize MZ for being the instrument of Nortel's troubles, but the real villain in this saga now is Harry J. Pearce, who sits invisibly in the background doing nothing while the value of the company declines by more than 90%.

  • broadbandbill

    Thank you…–bb

  • commentor

    I worry sometimes about the negativity here. But it is clear to me (as BB suggested) that there is lots of wisdom on this post.

    TIC (and Tired), we need people like you on this blog. If you are a Nortel employee, I command your courage and endless tries to focus this blog. Nortel need more of you. too bad you work for terrable leadership team. I want Nortel to survive. I am connected to people in every level within Nortel and let me tell you, many Nortel people are happy to see this blog and they read it every day. Why? because it balances the none sense internal marketing that Nortel leaders are driving and hurting their employees as a result. I can name few names on this blog who can help in Nortel comeback strategy, despite the fact we never met face to face.

    No one knows the details of why nortel had to cut its own flesh to survive in this drastic fashion, but let's just hope that this time, they are right (despite how the customers and the market are reacting)

  • broadbandbill

    second that! –bb

  • broadbandbill

    Thank you…–bb

  • The Psychiatrist

    To broadbandbill

    While your contributions to this blog may appear to be very negative,I do believe that you offer some good insight into the problems that Nortel is currently facing,as they are too descriptive to ignore.But while you continue to contribute to this blog,the end result is nothing is being done for your efforts,nor is there any change being initiated.You among others like another Nortel watcher,New Blue to name a few have opened up many eyes to shareholders,employees,competitors etc…

    With this descriptive knowledge that you possess surely you can in some way provide a voice for many to express their concerns as well by leading the way on what changes people like yourself feel needs to be done.

    I was thinking a good start would be a website dedicated to those concerned,whether it'd be shareholders,current employees,ex employees,or even customers.This website I envision would be completely run outside of Nortel's control and would allow current employees among others to express their opinions anonymously without fear of retribution.

    A website that is not moderated by Nortel with the purpose of providing a voice for those directly involved may go a long way to hammering home the desperately needed changes at various levels that have long evaded Nortel.

    The fact that Nortel has been fading in the market's eye as well as the potentially numerous contributions from anonymous employees may represent an undeniable truth to those who can truly initiate change.

  • broadbandbill

    Dear Psychiatrist,

    The perceived negativity in my comments is only a reflection of the accuracy of the same. As George Carlin used to say: “I call them the way I see them; I don’t make them up.”

    Also appreciate your vote of confidence but I truly feel AAN already serves that purpose. At this point I am only interested in reaching my goal of 100 posts, after which I am moving onward…–bb

  • Clint

    Some interesting rumours (and one that seems substantiated) out of NT today from some of my friends who work in the CDMA Division.
    First of all it seem like huaweii is not in the running for MEN anymore. This rumour seems substantiated if you check out lightreading. Today Huaweii released a new optical portfolio. It probably doesn't work but they released it.
    The second rumour, which seems bizarre and off the wall has some people saying MEN was sold off because Ericcson wants to buy NT but did not want MEN? That can't be possible for a number of reasons. Ericsson would only want CDMA if this was true, not the enterprise or carrier ethernet divsions such as metro next., DNS, PBX, or Wimax? Maybe LTE? NT has said they want to stay in the enterprise business and Ericsson don't want that. What is more likely is Ericsson might buy CDMA and LTE but nothing else which is more in line with another strong rumour that NT will continue to sells its assets. Final rumour is that groups or people parked in what the company calls the Chief Technology Office are in a compromising position and won't be hanging around long when the current dust settles or before it settles.
    Latest and Greatest.
    Good Luck NT and all your siblings.

  • many

    The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.

    -George Bernard Shaw

  • broadbandbill

    Thank you, I think :) … —bb

  • broadbandbill

    Thank you, I think :) … —bb

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