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Case
| HBS Case Collection
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2000
(Revised from original 1999 version)
HP Consumer Products Business Organization: Distributing Printers via the Internet
by
Rajiv Lal, Kirthi Kalyanam, Shelby Mc Intyre and Edie Prescott
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Abstract
In spring 1998, Pradeep Jotwani, vice president and general manager of the Consumer Products Business Organization of the Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), was contemplating the increasing success of e-commerce and its implications for his division. The consumer products group had started selling refurbished printers through an Internet outlet center in December 1997, but Jotwani was now considering a move to sell new printers directly to consumers via this new channel. If he were to make such a move, he wondered which products to sell online at what prices, and how to communicate this strategy to the channel partners without damaging the existing distribution structure.
Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions;
Marketing Channels;
Business Processes;
Problems and Challenges;
Partners and Partnerships;
Sales;
Business Strategy;
Technology;
Information Technology;
Consumer Products Industry;