Summary
1. There was nothing “strange” about Nortel retaining “its identity and remain[ing] independent.” 2. Remnants of the culture of self-importance can be found today. 3. Its biggest success was back in the 1970s with the development of the first digital CO switch – ever since that time with some notable spikes up along the way, it was on a overall downward trajectory.
Analysis
Nortel is like some of the prestigious universities that have been riding on their reputations for decades. It does not matter that their education programs leave a lot to be desired. The only difference is these schools do not go away. Nortel will shortly meet its demise.
Here was a company from a nation about 1/10 the size of the US that forced the great Western Electric to allow its switches to be sold to the Bell companies. These captive and dominant carriers demanded Nortel’s products. Nortel never recovered from the sense of hubris.
There was simply very little question that if one worked at Nortel, it could not be seen as doing anything wrong. In corporate history, there may never be another company that will ever rival it as a marketing machine. No other supplier could sell vaporware so successfully. From an engineering standpoint, it never came close to duplicating its achievement with the DMS product line. It was just about a one-hit wonder that was able to take advantage of a business that prized incumbency so much – and so it was able to stick around for a very long time.
It is hard to remember up to the present when it sold a division or product line from a position of strength. Whether it was its cable manufacturing facilities or a portion of its wireless product line, it appears that Nortel was always forced into the situation. For it was Nortel, and it had to be as many things for as many people as possible.
It is hard to imagine “what might be left of the company to exit Chapter 11.” And if there is anything, it will be on life support. A firm so deeply rooted in disingenuousness that has led to enormous distress in the telecom space will be thankfully gone.
