Season of rethinking
Did you shake your head in frustration when you heard Netflix killed Qwikster even before it started? I know. It is hard to say what is going on inside this once loved company. It seems that the price hike will remain in place and the streaming focus is still a priority but it’s just the spinoff that has been cancelled. Remember this post about Netflix? And then, news came in this week about another company going through some turbulent times-HP. Meg Whitman, who is now the new CEO of HP, is rethinking spinoff of its PC division. I don’t mean to write a smug “Didn’t I say it’s a bad idea?” post referring to my earlier posts, because, as of now, this is just being thought over. Numbers will finally dictate the direction CEO Meg Whitman will take on this issue. Part of the discussion is whether a spinoff of the PC business would take too much of a toll on HP’s bargaining power with component makers, complicating its supply chain and decreasing profits on some products. Truth is, HP makes great desktops at a great price. Tablets, laptops, Smartphones all have their benefits and their own place but people still need desktops for lengthy, complicated activities.
Maybe they took a hint from Netflix-Qwikster disaster of messing with the flagship product? Sure, the money seems to be in enterprise software but messing with your flagship product, means risking loss of the anchor that holds you in place.
Is the board on-board?
Firing of Leo Apotheker didn’t come as a surprise to many of us who were following HP. Remember this post about leadership where we talked about the baffling moves that were made by now former HP CEO? Experts have said that the problem that ails this company is the board. HP has a board that is known to be “dysfunctional”. It’s been said that the full HP board didn’t even met with Leo Apotheker before handing over the reins of the company to him. They also fired Mark Hurd on unsubstantiated sexual harassment charges which Oracle CEO Larry Ellison later called the “worst personnel decision after the decision of Apple board to fire Steve Jobs”
Meg Whitman
It is Meg Whitman who now takes on the responsibility of fixing this great company. There are plenty of us who have questioned Meg Whitman’s motivation behind taking this job that nobody would really want. She had a successful run as the CEO of eBay and under her leadership, eBay catapulted into one of the biggest success stories. She spent millions out of her own pocket on an unsuccessful run for the governor’s office in California. She is extremely smart but doesn’t have the experience of running a company like HP. So what is it that really drives her to take on this responsibility? Is it the challenge, the money? Her leadership skills are no doubt stellar but what contributed to eBay’s success was the fact that it was just the right idea at the right time. Meg Whitman herself said “a monkey could drive this train” referring to the success of eBay’s business model. My guess would be she stabilizes the company and then hands it over to an internal candidate who is much more comfortable with the HP operations and has a vision for its products. It remains to be seen if Ms. Whitman is able to drive this train into the station.
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