HP & Fiorina



This is not just another Garage . This is the Garage where Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard founded HP more than 65 years ago. The Commemorative Plaque outside proclaims this place as the " Birthplace of Silicon Valley" . For the uninitiated , Silicon Valley (or Bay Area) is the Stretch between San Francisco & San Jose
( Almost 50 miles if you drive on 101 Freeway) in California which is the Home of Tech Giants such as HP,Oracle,Cisco,Intel,Sun Microsystems,Yahoo,Google,Apple.

When I heard the news about the ouster of Carly , I couldn't help feeling a sense of Clairvoyance.HP is a company that I admire a lot . Aren't they afterall credited with the Creation of " Silicon Valley" ? I lived in the valley for almost 3 years . The Silicon Valley is famous for many things -- Innovation , Venture Capitalism,Entrepreneurial Spirit , Geekdom and also sadly greed. HP was one of those few companies with brain & soul in an otherwise competitive cerebral world . Folklores are legendary inside HP about its Founders' simplicity and unique " Management by Walking Around (MBWA)".

During my recent MBA projects (OB Project on HP-Compaq Merger and Costing project on " Cost of Quality" at HP) on HP , I couldn't help having a eerie feeling when I realized that 70% of HP's profits came from its Lucrative Printing / Imaging division or when the bulk of market Cap of HP was due to its "cash cow" printers (Actually catridges) . Most analysts wanted the company to be split to enhance shareholder value and also the HP-Compaq merger had not gone as well as they wanted it to be ( IBM is still a king in Services and Dell seems no signs of wearing down in PC Business enjoying the highest margins ).

Against all this Backdrop , I thought Fiorina would quit and probably pursue her political ambitions ( BusinessWeek reports that she is close to the Republicans and has aspirations to run for the Senate ). But fate (or the Board) willed otherwise .........