Hewlett-packard,losing the Hp Way

I am student pursuing MBA. For the past few days I was constantly thinking over the question that was posed by one of my faculties – How companies strive to survive during crisis and how does that have an impact on the organisational culture? If you ask, for me the question isn’t simple nor the answer for that. I was searching for some cases of companies who actually stood tall even during bad times. I finally found a case study on Hewlett-Packard, one of the global leaders in information technology products and services. The case tried to capture the problems faced by HP in balancing its unique people-focused, consensus-driven work culture – the ‘HP Way’ with the changing competitive dynamics of the global PC industry. Hewlett-Packard had been losing its effectiveness due to the changing profile of the company. Carly Fiorina, the ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard took over the mantle of the company in 1999, and tried to bring in radical changes in the ‘HP Way’ to rebuild the company. Hewlett-Packard faced setback after firing of Carly Fiorina and the failed merger with Compaq. Mark Hurd who was appointed the new CEO of Hewlett-Packard, formulated restructuring strategies that could match with the company’s core philosophy – the ‘HP Way’.

After going through the case study, I found it very useful. It helped me in understanding how a company that was known for its unique culture had to face tough times and struggled to retain its market leadership. In the class, we are acquainted with the concept, but correlating it with a real-time problem and coming out with a solution is the real test. Such cases provide useful insights of how a company must manage its crisis.