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

Educators Purchase

Citation:

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

This case concerns Yıldız Holding’s acquisition of Godiva Chocolatier from its previous owner, Campbell Soup, and its salient strategy in preserving Godiva’s “made in Belgian” brand position. Provenance Paradox, a problem faced by companies in emerging countries trying to establish their brands in developed markets, had not become a problem for Yıldız Holding. The chairman Murat Ülker asked the Godiva management to execute a highly ambitious plan of making the brand widely-available at supermarkets, drug stores and mass channels in the U.S. market. How was the Godiva brand affected by the change in its marketing strategy? How was the execution different in international markets vs. the U.S. market?

Faculty & Research

Hewlett-Packard (A)

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author