Hewlett-Packard (A)

Rohit  Deshpande; Seth  Schulman

Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2005 (Revised November 2006)

Hewlett-Packard (A)

Abstract

Since its controversial merger with Compaq, Hewlett-Packard had been under pressure by analysts and some stockholders to divest itself of its low-margin PC business. For CEO Carly Fiorina and others on HP's management team, however, PCs seemed integral to the company's broader strategy of becoming more customer focused. In May 2004, with HP's stock substantially undervalued, Mike Winkler, HP's chief marketing officer, was asked to weigh in on the company's PC strategy going forward. Could HP serve its customers better with PCs or without them? And if HP stayed in PCs, how should the company price them?

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Customer Focus and Relationships; Mergers and Acquisitions; Hardware; Business Strategy; Price; Computer Industry;

Format: Print

16 pages

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Citation:

Deshpande, Rohit, and Seth Schulman. "Hewlett-Packard (A)." Harvard Business School Case 505-065, February 2005. (Revised November 2006.)

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Hewlett-Packard (A)

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