BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Finnish company Nokia decided to manage its South American business from its office in the United States, therefore moving Paul Murdock, regional manager, from Buenos Aires to Dallas and letting go of 25 percent of its staff in Argentina, mainly in the administration and technical areas.
Nokia attributed the decision to “the difficult economic and financial situation being experienced by Argentina.” In any case, the company announced it will continue operating in the region, although only its commercial and customer service areas will remain functioning.
This situation will likely affect Nokia’s mobile-phone penetration in the country. It currently has 27 percent of the market share in Argentina, placing it behind Motorola with 44 percent. Ericsson with 14 percent and Samsung at 13 percent follow.
However, the decision will not impact any of the four cellular operators, because none have infrastructure provided by Nokia. Ericsson is Unif
