Abstract

The case discusses about the changes Hewlett Packard Co. (HP) underwent under the leadership of Carly Fiorina (Fiorina), who took over as the company’s CEO in 1999. It talks about the various decisions taken by Fiorina, prominent among them being the company’s merger with Compaq Computer Corporation, which was one of the reasons for its decline towards the early 2000s. The case then talks about the measures taken by Mark V Hurd (Hurd), who replaced Fiorina as the company’s CEO in March 2005, to improve the financial conditions of the company. The case also shows the difference between the management style adopted by Fiorina and Hurd in running HP.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Compare and contrast the strategies followed by two CEOs of a large technology firm
• Understand the impact of a change in leader-ship on a company’s strategy
• and Study the impact of a change in leadership style on organizational culture.

Keywords

Carleton S Fiorina, Mark V Hurd, Hewlett Packard (HP) Co, Carly Fiorina, Management style, Celebrity chief executive officer (CEO), Compaq Computer Corporation, The HP way, Personal computer market, Restructuring, Organisational change