Business

Carly Fiorina became one of the most powerful women in business in America when she joined Hewlett-Packard, Inc. in 1999. The only lady CEO in the entire history of HP, Inc., Fiorina attempted to reinvent Hewlett-Packard to become a global leader by reinventing its operations. However, her bold move for the mergeracquisition of Compaq in 2001 and 2002 had been opposed strongly by Hewlett heirs, notably, Founders son, Walter Hewlett, and the battle led even to court.  Walter Hewletts opposition is quoted in Anders book (2003  139), I believe that Hewlett-Packard can create greater value  for stockholders as a stand alone company  than as a company combined with Compaq.  These events took place in 2001.

Fiorina, at the start of her third year as CEO of HP had staked everything in an audacious plan to remake Hewlett-Packard by carrying out one of the biggest takeovers of all time. (Anders, 2003)  Despite strong opposition from the HP heirs, Fiorina managed to convince the Board of the archrival Compaq acquisition for  20 billion investment. Since 2002, when the merger took place, the strategy did not work as expected. Investors were not very positive about Fiorinas leadership and it was reflected in the August 23 when HP reported disappointing earnings in its fifth post-merger quarter, investors pounded down its shares 10 percent. (Anders, 2003 213).

In February 10, 2005, the HP Board asked Fiorina to step down as CEO after six years of leading the company, and she agreed. Her failure was not of strategy but of execution, or strategy implementation. The poor execution of company strategy led to losses of 400m in revenues and 275m in operating profit. Some problems that caused the lost revenue and market share of HP were tough pricing and poor sales of storage systems (La Monica, 2005). The company also suffered from lack of confidence in her leadership by investors.

Comparison of MergerAcquisition Strategy
The mergeracquisition of Compaq was the greatest battle fought by Fiorina when she took over as CEO in 1999. It was a battle where she had to face tough opposition from Walter Hewlett and this had not endeared her to the founders family. Her major strategy was to make HP bigger and a global leader by combining the synergies of two big companies in the global computer business through acquisition. Her strategic vision was bold and modern when compared to the famous The HP Way which cherishes tradition and timeless commitment to management excellence (Anders, 2003 210). In David Packards memoir book, The HP Way (1995 143) he said, while acquisitions are often useful in expanding companys new technologies and gaining a quick entry to new markets, they are not without problems. Packard pointed out difficulty in blending two cultures, operating philosophies, and management styles (Packard, 1995 45).

Comparison of Strategic Choices
Mark Hurd joined HP in early 2005 as chief executive officer and president. He was named chairman of the board of directors in September 2006. Hurd was the CEO replacing Fiorina who stepped down in September, 2005.

With the goal of establishing HP as the worlds leading technology company, Hurd has sharpened HPs strategic focus and concentrated its investments on three long-term growth opportunities next-generation enterprise data center architecture and services technologies for always connected, always personal mobile experiences and a broad transition from analog to digital imaging and  printing across the consumer, commercial and industrial markets.