When Hewlett-Packard Co. parachuted board member Meg Whitman in to be CEO just over a year ago her goal was to at the very least stabilize a giant IT corporation that was in trouble. An announced US$10 billion-dollar acquisition and a confused tablet strategy made customers and investors jumpy.
Since then the company has plunged into the red. But in this profile from the New York Times, Whitman shows she’s determined to overhaul HP. “I believe in creative destruction,” she told the writer.
The question is, is this an uphill battle? “It’s staggering,” a financial analyst is quoted in the story. “This is now the cheapest big stock in the last 25 years. That reflects an industry belief that the company is going to decline.”
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It makes one wonder what the secret sauce is to running HP? Why the company seemingly cruised along, then hit rocks with Carly Fiorina, gold with Mark Hurd only to run up on the rocks again. Why does its board have such a spotty record?
The IT industry has always needed to be quick on its feet, and HP thought it was by, say, buying Compaq. Or getting into mobile with the iPAQ. Or into tablets with webOS. Or buying EDS.
This piece looks at Whitman’s way of overhauling HP. She says she understands the speed at which she has to move. She doesn’t have much time.