The book traces the history of telecommunications from the discovery of the telephone till today's high speed digital transmission through optic fibers. Nortel is at the center stage throughout the book while Cisco and Lucent are seen as its major competitors. The Telecom Industry is thus not a part of the "new economy" and players like Cisco are new players in the old economy Industry. This is what I infer from this book. The secret behind Nortel's success and survival for over hundred years , weathering economic and technological discontinuities seems to be its ability to continuously innovate through investments in R&D and by promoting an entrepreneurial work culture.
Nortel has been "at the right places at the right time"- Enchasing on discontinuities . Cisco is the champion in routing data traffic while Nortel is attempting to use its expertise in telephony and beat Cisco by using a combination of packet and circuit switching.
Also see my review on " Making the Cisco Connection- David Bunnell". I am not willing to take any bet!
A powerful theme lacks the punch of narration. Reads like a text book on telecom history.
My primary interest, however, is in the company today and (especially) in its prospects for the future inthe face of what is certain to be ferocious competition. As MacDonald observes in the Introduction, "Nortel is at the forefront of laying down the information superhighways now revolutionizing the lives of everyone everywhere. Indeed, Nortel has a good-shot at becoming the number one provider of Internet infrastructure...This book, in providing a look at the emergence and prospects for Nortel, is, in part, an introduction to one of the biggest stories now unfolding: the fierce rivalry of three titans [ie Nortel, Cisco Systems, and Lucent Technologies] to construct and expand the networks of the future."
According to MacDonald, one of the main factors in the Nortel's success this far [i.e. when the book was published] has been its ability to capitalize on discontinuities,"those sudden breaks in the environment or the way things are done." For example, the transition from analog to digital telephonesystems, from wired to wireless communications, and from copper-based to fiber-optic transmission systems. Also, the deregulation of the telecommunications industry, allowance of interconnection to the telephone network by the FCC (1971), and then the break-up of the AT&T monopoly. MacDonald does a brilliant job of examining and explaining this theme of discontinuities as well as other themes which also relate to "the role of institutional arrangements" and to "the internal dynamics of the corporation."
As he thinks about an uncertain future, MacDonald suggests how Nortel has differentiated itself thus far from its two main rivals: its lead infiber optics, the relatively greater amount of its research anddevelopment, its greater diversification of both product andgeographic distribution, its speed advantage over Lucent to embrace growth opportunities of the Internet and IP networks, and through the leveraging of its strengths in optical transmission. Of course, how long Nortel can sustain these competitive advantages remained to be seen then and serious problems have since developed or have at least been revealed.
Who will derive the greatest benefit from reading this book? All of the executives now employed by Nortel, Cisco, and Lucent as well as by other "players" such as Siemens, Alcatel, and Ericsson. Also, all of the executives at other companies which now have (or seek) B2B relationships with any of the aforementioned "giants." Finally, other executives such as I who are not directly involved but are eager nonetheless to learn how and why some companies become "giants" (at least for a time) and others don't. I am deeply grateful to MacDonald for what I have learned from his book and thank him, also, for presenting his material with style,grace, and (when appropriate) a sense of humor.