Category: Hewlett Packard

In 1939, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard who were both college classmates at Stanford University created a company, Hewlett Packard. The company was well known for its management practices, reliable and innovative products.

The culture and the management practices, ‘HP way’, were progressive and included a focus on the profits more than revenue growth, full employment, egalitarian pay practices, and flexible working hours. The practices connected with the values of the founders on the importance of profit and people (Beer, Khurana & Weber 2005).

In the first four decades, HP sold test and measurement equipments and it was during that time that the HP Way was developed. Beer et al. (2005, p.2) asserts that the products could be sold for high profits since they were based on the leading-edge technology developed at HP.

HP launched computer and printer products in the 1970s. Initially, these were for commercial applications but later, the company developed products for domestic use. During this period, big up-front research and development investments was required for the computers. Also, many divisions at HP that worked so well in the instrument business were required.

Beer et al (2005) asserts that in the late 1980s, the company also began to build lower-margin PCs. It is during this time the founders expressed concerns regarding whether the low-margin computer business was a good fit for HP. HP had three business areas by the early 1990s which were the test and measurement instruments business.

HP sold a variety of high-margin instruments to engineers through highly independent HP divisions. Between the year 1992 and 1996, HP enjoyed rapid sales growth of over 20% annually, but not without concerns over the increasing reliance on low-margin PCs and profits from printers.

The CEO of Compaq approached Fiorina in the year 2001 in order to address the possibility of merging HP and Compaq. Negotiations started on the board’s realization that the deal made sense. The negotiations were led by Fiorina and they could not continue without her presence. A public announcement was made for the merger between HP and Compaq (Beer et al 2005).

HP moved from just the top thirty PC makers to number three after IBM and Compaq between the early 1990s and about 1997. According to Beer et al (2005) two shifts in the industry dynamics made the competitors to rework their strategies and organization in the late 1990s. Major customers especially on the business, were looking for their suppliers to provide technological solutions meaning suppliers needed to have a high level of coordination across the commercial side’s activities.

IBM, a major competitor to HP, by then had successfully implemented a solutions strategy by bundling computers, software, and other products with services to meet the needs of the customers for the integrated solutions. The rapid growth of the internet was the second shift involved. In the late 1990s, HP’s performance began to falter resulting from Dell and the Asian economic crisis causing it to miss quarterly profit.

Beer and Werssowetz (1985) argue that in the early years of the formation of the HP company, a number of management concepts were developed by the founders that involved a set of corporate objectives and a business style known as the HP way. This style of management involves a participative management style will support, demands freedom for individuals and an initiative as it emphasizes commonness of the objectives and teamwork.

Employees are provided with direction in the form of well-defined negotiated goals, shared data, and the support of necessary resources. Process used in HP provides structure and strength to help in assuring the desired products of their efforts. Exceptional subtlety in approach and trust and openness in relationships are required to try to gear a common supportive process while retaining individuality.

The strong beliefs in several areas by Hewlett and Packard shaped the company since the beginning. According to Beer and Werssowetz (1985), several aspects of the corporate objectives are embodied by HP’s product strategy. R & D to create products that will compete through new technical contributions rather than through marketing or through other competitive devices is emphasized on.

Technically oriented non-sense approach of the people who started the company is reflected by the product strategy. The company’s approach to human resource management and the product strategy complement each other.

The most fundamental business unit at HP is the product division. Until a product area contains the six basic functions of R & D, manufacturing, marketing, quality assurance, finance, and personnel is a division (Beer & Werssowetz, 1985, p.5). There were 40 HP divisions by the end of 1980.

The responsibility of 10 product groups is to coordinate the activities of the divisions. The company’s objectives are also reflected by the important financial elements. A comprehensive system of management by objectives primarily directs the daily activities of HP. The overall objectives are communicated and subunit objectives negotiated at each company level. Objectives provide a large measure of freedom in how goals will be accomplished. The goals must be made to mesh both horizontally and vertically throughout the organization.

To succeed in any organization, one should look at different aspects to keep moving. If at all HP intends to realize growth in revenue, it must achieve its corporate objectives. However, the company’s products must first fulfill the needs of the diverse market.

Reference List

Beer, M., Khurana, R., & Weber, J., 2005, Hewlett-Packard: culture in changing times. Boston: Harvard business school.

Beer, M., & Werssowetz, R.,1985, Human resources at Hewlett-Packard. Boston: Harvard business school.

Problem identification and description

The Hewlett Packard Company faces the problem of over expenditure and therefore it is trying to cut down on the yearly expenses especially in the information and Communication Technology department. The focus mainly is the experts IT expenditures, Information Systems Applications and the over exaggerated information computer hubs. The amount of server’s infrastructure also contributes hugely to the expenses and thus the need for reducing them. The issue of over expenditure focuses on the management of the databases.

Contributory factors to the problem

There are numerous predicaments regarding collecting, analyzing and presenting data or information across various parts of the business. The crisis mainly come about as a result of differences in processing of data for instance tracking and processing of sales and marketing data occurs on different servers totally independent of the server whose tasks involve tracking sales information across geographical boundaries.

For instance, the most essential process is that of analyzing and processing common monetary information such as gross margins to assess the company’s profit status, whose solution entails different business operational units.

The company also experienced dragged sales due to data inconsistency. It takes a lot of time to compile information from various business sites thus affecting decision making procedures or forcing managers to make judgments based on stale information. With such inconsistency, it is difficult to make predicaments regarding the size of sales and services teams and analyzing their spending.

Possible solutions and experiences implemented by HP

The companies’ turning point focuses upon the building of a mega data warehouse to server the whole enterprise. The aim is to get rid of unnecessary database technologies, which are in use and integrate some of the technologies to single units. Many companies have faced the complexity involved in the implementation of data warehouses and majority failed to achieve the goal. The mega warehouse ought to offer real time access to data or information regardless of geographical, structural or departmental boundaries.

With a data mart covering the entire enterprise, consistency of data would be achievable. Data is processed and monitored in real time meaning that it would never get stale or incomplete. Such a data warehouse enables access to financial records necessary for important economic decisions.

HP emphasizes on flexibility and time factors. The hardware implemented can server other correlated needs thus the ability to incorporate 100 percent analysis of the company’s data.

One of the HP’s strategies is to configure a system that cuts down on the implementation workload and reduce the complexity, which is achievable with the help of experts.

“Neoview” System

The success of the HP data warehouse catalyzes its need among other companies and as a result, it forced the HP Company to come up with “Neoview”, which is a product for enhancing multi-tasking procedures involved in processing of data. Ability to perform real time analysis and management of data concurrently is a big stepping-stone for most enterprises.

The versatility of the Intel processors used in the Neoview systems promises almost a hundred percent availability of time. According to the users of the “Neoview” System such as “Bon-Ton” and “Wal-Mart”, it provides a data warehouse that exceeds most expectations.

Steps to take in developing a wide data warehouse

An efficient warehouse ought to be different in cost, technology and integration. The focus should be amalgamating all data processing points to one area as opposed to integrating processing points.

A true warehouse includes all business entities such as employees’ details, marketing information, financial reports and customer’s data under one central system where analysis takes place. Integration of such a wide data warehouse ought to occur in phases as opposed to direct change over. Concurrent running of business systems enables the owners to note various weaknesses and improve the system accordingly. It must undergo intensive assessment and testing to ensure accuracy.

Technological challenges

The system requires numerous works to organize and integrate all subsystems into one single unit. There is need for database knowledge and technology among implementers, designers and users of the system as well. The current corporate mergers are also a hindrance to immediate implementation of such database management systems because a merger can outdate an implementation within a short lifespan. Not all application suits the centralization of data processing procedures.

The organization policies, rules and culture determine the kind of system to use. It is important to consider the industrially manufactured hardware to cut on the implementation costs. It is equally crucial to consider expertise in installation as well as running the system. Industries should understand that running multiple warehouses might be more expensive that a single mega centrally managed warehouse.

Case summary

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is a company that specializes in the manufacture of various electronic devises and provision of technological solutions. The company faces stiff competition from IBM and various Indian companies. The company strives to improve its competitiveness and market share through acquisition.

However, the company has not been successful in improving its competitiveness using this strategy. HP acquired Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in order to improve its competitiveness in the market. When HP was acquiring EDS, EDS had the second largest second largest market share in the tech services market.

IBM was the market leader, with HP coming at a distant fifth (Wheelen & Hunger, 2012). Therefore, acquisition of EDS would have improved HP’s competitiveness significantly. However, the acquisition did not increase the HP’s competitiveness due to various factors.

Issues

One of the major factors that reduced the effectiveness of the acquisition is the differences between the organizational culture of HP and EDS. Frequent change in HP’s organizational culture created several problems to the company. Engineering excellence was one of the major attributes of HP.

However, change in leadership of the company led to significant changes in the organizational culture. In addition, the management structure of EDS and HP did facilitate the integration of activities of different highly skilled employees within the organization (Wheelen & Hunger, 2012).

The case provides a clear illustration of the importance of the organizational culture for the success of an organization. The organizational culture is the unspoken code within an organization aids the activities of the organization. Therefore, it is vital for the organizational culture to improve the efficiency of the organization.

The case also shows the importance of change management. A company should ensure that it does not undertake changes that contravene its organization cultures. Carleton Fiorina introduced changes that contravened HP’s organizational culture. This necessitated the employees to undertake drastic changes in their activities. Having efficient change management would have enabled HP overcome some of the problems it was facing (Nilakant & Ramnarayan, 2006).

An organization should have efficient strategic management. Strategic management enables a company to make decision that would improve its efficiency and competitiveness. HP lacks efficient strategic management. Acquisition does not advance the goals of the company. The company should undertake strategic decisions that would improve the company’s identity.

Differences in the organizational structure of EDS and HP created several problems. The organizational culture may empower employees or give more control to the managers of the organization. EDS managers had vast powers, which enabled them control the activities of the employees. On the other hand, HP empowered its employees to enable them perform their activities better. Differences in the organizational structure hindered the integration of the activities of both companies.

Questions

Did acquisition of EDS improve the competitiveness of HP?

The acquisition of EDS did not improve the competitiveness of HP. This is because EDS continued to advice clients to buy systems from other vendors. HP should integrate EDS activities into HP’s operations. In so doing, the company will use the EDS expertise to improve the sale of its systems. However, HP has not integrated the activities of EDS into its activities.

Should managers consider the organizational culture of a company before acquisition?

Organizational culture is one of the most important factors that determine the success of a company. Manager should consider the organizational culture before acquiring a company. This is because clash in the organizational culture may pose several problems to the acquisition. It is critical for an organization to have efficient change management. This would guarantee the success of various changes within the organization.

References

Nilakant, V. & Ramnarayan, S. (2006). Change management: Altering mindsets in a global context. London: SAGE publications.

Wheelen, T.L. & Hunger, J.D. (2012). Strategic management and business policy: Toward global sustainability, thirteenth edition. Boston, MA: Pearson.

The case of Hewlett Packard shows that to be effective, marketing requires more than a consideration of corporate effort alone. It needs an integrated plan that takes into account both government policy and the competitive position of participating American businesses. The role of corporate leader is critical. The actual distribution of products tends to follow geographic boundaries. For economic efficiency, however, marketing activity should cross national boundaries.

Communication through jets and satellites certainly helps to hurdle boundaries, if not to make them disappear. Marketing then tends to become multinational. During her tenure, Carly Fiorina made a number of decisions which had a negative impact on the company. During crisis Fiorina ignore the negative market sentiment. Also, she proceeded with the merger with Sun. The result was that HP shares dropped and Walter Hewlitt and David W Packard opposed Fiorina’s plans and strategies. the strategic choice to acquire another company was successful for HP, thus it should be delayed to overcome economic pressure and crisis. “Statistics show that while turnover was near 30 percent among tech firms in the Valley during the late 1990s, it never rose above 5 percent at HP” (Sappendfield 2006).

Also, the company had to lay of 16,000 of employees in order to save financial resources and profitability. Cost cutting strategies were not effective because they created a negative publicity for HP and did not solve its main problems. under Fiona, “HP was progressive. It was egalitarian. And it eventually became the pioneer of many aspects of the modern American workplace” (Sappendfield 2006).

The successful strategies applied and adopted by Fiorina were innovations and creativity in all sphere of life and product development. The decision maker brings nothing to the actual choice by way of experience or marketing information that helps in selecting among choices. This situation is an unrealistic one and is closely approximated in marketing by an absolutely new product with no marketing-research information available.

Fiorina underlined that customers want new products; they desire change. Although cultures differ as to their rate of acceptance of change, innovation is a means of satisfying the customer’s basic needs. Sources of innovation were internal (top management and executive leaders, sales and other operating units) and external (management consultants and advertising men). It appeared that HP had a greater opportunity to take defensive action against other new products than to create totally new ones, and the programming of counter innovation becomes. This strategic choice was effective because it allowed the company to sustain a strong leadership position on the market.

Growth was accompanied by JP, both internal and external, that place pressures on coordination and integration. As the growth process continues, HP shifted to product, divisional, or functional areas to ease pressures on coordination. The case of Fiona’s leadership shows that the greatest degree of marketing control may be exercised over those factors in the mix that are internal, including decisions on the amount of advertising expenditure, the number of salesmen, and the geographic territories to cover. The least control is exercised over customers, when companies try to influence and persuade them but the power lies in the customers’ hands.

Yet even the customers are greatly affected by factors outside a company’s sphere of control such as the host of environmental factors previously discussed. The tenure of Fiona was marked by positive changes and creative solutions although she made poor strategic decisions which had a negative impact on the company. The efficacy of marketing control depends on both the availability of relevant marketing intelligence and management power to adjust parts of the marketing program and objectives.

Works Cited

Markets, family decline Fiorina’s offer. n.d. Web.

Sappendfield, M. A controversial merger and the ‘HP Way’. 2006. Web.

Corporate governance has become an integral component of management. Management is a diverse discipline that entails numerous functions such as accounting, personnel management, and auditing. Corporate governance represents an emerging field in management theory. Corporate governance entails the evaluation of the best management practices. The strategic level of management makes all the decisions that may pertain to corporate governance. Other managerial levels make decisions that will have minimal implications on corporate governance in an entity. However, all the managerial approaches constitute corporate governance (Pfeffer).

The article highlights the problems that Hewlett Packard, an Information Technology (IT) firm is encountering. The entity’s management has made various deplorable decisions which have culminated in the myriad of problems that the entity is encountering. The entity has been performing poorly for a while. Its problems are further compounded by directors recruiting a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) externally. It would be prudent for the firm to recruit the CEO internally.

This is an advisable step that would ensure that an individual that understands the entity’s shortcomings takes the helm at Hewlett Packard. Additionally, it reveals that the directors are confident with the workforce presents in the organization. Appointing the CEO from outside the organization will have far-reaching ramifications that Hewlett Packard’s directors have overlooked. The new leaders will require time to entrench his philosophy in the organization. Such a transition period is characterized by anxiety and conflict as the CEO seeks to make visible progress in an organization that is in financial turmoil. Transition in such an organization will lead to further problems in the entity. Overall, the director should relook how they appoint key managerial personnel (Pfeffer).

Hewlett Packard has also been facing another hitch which has been the key trigger of its ailment. The entity has haphazardly engaged in mergers and acquisitions. It is vital to attest to the fact that most mergers and acquisitions fail. This implies that entities ought to be diligent, creative, and cautious when seeking the above forms of strategic ventures. Failure is rampant since most managers overlook various dynamics associated with mergers and acquisitions such as the workforce and the organizational culture. The entity also fails to establish a transition period. During the transition period entity should learn whether the arrangement is workable by evaluating the dynamics of the merger or the acquisition.

Due diligence seems to be an aspect that has been lacking in the deals that directors and top managers have sanctioned. The entity’s top brass seems to be in a hurry to expend the entity surplus funds. The technology sector is exceedingly dynamic and changes rapidly. Hence, the entity should look at a merger that will not only be beneficial in the short-run but also in the long run. This requires lengthy and detailed research on the two merging entities. The research should support the decision of the management. In such a scenario, Hewlett Packard should hire a financial institution that will guide how it undertakes mergers and acquisitions (Pfeffer).

The above detail reveals how Hewlett Packard’s management has made poor choices resulting in the decline of the entity. The entity is constantly seeking a financial partner who will support the entity. Such chronic managerial problems will require the entity directors to relook at the core values, mission, and vision of the entity. This would provide the entity with a fresh start and enable the entity to elude its perennial managerial and financial woes.

Work Cited

Pfeffer, J. Ray Lane, Hewlett-Packard, and the State of Corporate Governance. 2013. Web.

Introduction

The case is about Hewlett Packard company which has just seen a new chief executive officer appointed and is trying to transform the company to a more competitive and profitable company. He is faced with many challenges among them complaints in sales force, poor performance, bureaucracy etc. he is determined to eliminate these huddles in business. He decides to implement reforms in the whole operations processes of the company especially the sales force (Peters, 112).

Opportunities and problems in the case

Hewlett Packard has an opportunity of increasing its sales as well as efficiently utilizing its workforce to increase their capabilities. The current structure in the sales force is not conducive for the workforce to fully exploit their potential and thus reforms are needed (Doyle and Phillip, 17). The company is faced with the following problems;

1. There exist a lot of layers between the management and the consumer which made the customer satisfaction difficult and also identifying their needs.
2. The company has a high reputation in supply of high technology and it needs to maximize on this by focusing on the largest consumers of their products i.e. corporate customers.
3. There were also some problems in the corporate sales as it consisted of inconsistent earning and lack of growth.
4. Lack of employee motivation and morale especially when it bought the shares of a rival i.e. Compaq.

Analyzing the Solutions for these problems

These problems had to be addressed by the new management in order to make the company better and more profitable. The existing problems had to be addressed. Firstly the management decided to reform the sales force by eliminating those groups which sold a large portfolio of products and were divided according to different products they offered. He also eliminated three layers of sales management to eliminate bureaucracy and also shorten the process chain in the sales department (Pul-wing, Para 8).

Secondly they had to shift focus on the private consumers and put more emphasis on the corporate consumers to stabilize sales and also increase the return on sales.

Thirdly changing the organization culture to fit the new sales management format also experienced difficulty. This was a strategy designed at changing the earlier perception about the company to a more proactive stand which would bring some competitive advantage to the company (Bradley, 22).

And finally the supply chain was to be made more proactive in increasing the sales as the workforce was ensured that it had more time on the clients and also faster and efficient system of data dissemination and storage was adopted from Oracle.

Merits and demerits of the alternatives

Hewlett Packard had the opportunity to reform especially with the new and experienced management, they had to transform to the dream company. However this process has pros and cons, they include;

1. Advantages to the company may include; the company was able to cut down the sales management layers, this enabled it to increase its ability to manage the budgets and also the market. The sales force gained a commanding role as it got a direct control in sales. The restructuring enable the company gain and advantage over both the private and corporate consumers since it got a lot more publicity and space in shopping outlets (Pul-wing, Para 13-9).
2. Despite the benefits that were brought these were disadvantages which came along with the restructuring e.g. layoffs made many jobless and also increasing workload on the remaining workers (Bearden and Thomas, 93).

Recommendations

Restructuring comes with more benefits as compared to the problems and the core motive of being in business has to be put in mind thus the better the production and operations processes the more the sales and return on investment. The brand is also recognized by the aggressive marketing thus becoming the favorite brand (Hooley, 223).

Works cited

Bearden, William, and Thomas Ingram. Marketing: Principles and Perspectives. Chicago: Irwin Publishers, 1995.

Bradley, Frank. Strategic Management: In the customer driven organisation. West Sussex: John Wiley and sons. 2007.

Doyle, Peter, and Phillip Stern. Marketing management and Strategy. 4^th ed. London: Pearson Education press, 2006.

Hooley, Graham. Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning. 4^th ed. London: Pearson Education, 2008.

Peters, Paul. Marketing management: Knowledge and skills. 8^th ed. New York: mc Graw-hill 2007.

Pul-wing, Tam. “Hurds Big Challenge at H.P: Overhauling Corporate Sales.” The Wall street Journal. April 3 2006. A2, A13.

It seems that in the electronic age the issue of privacy might seem as one of the greatest topics that bring the attention of the society. Such topic arose after 9/11, and still makes an appearance once a scandal occurs in the media. After all, the right to privacy is protected by constitution, and thus, the significance of such issue cannot be questioned. One of the cases touching on the issue of privacy is directly related to business ethics and corporate responsibility. Patricia Dunn, chairman of the board inn Hewlett Packard (HP) knowing of a leak in the board of directors, hired a firm, which hired another firm, which used controversial methods to find the source of the leak (Kaplan, 2006; Rasch, 2006). The method is pretexting – pretending to be someone else to get information, or simply deceiving (Rasch, 2006). The leaker was identified, the case went public, and subsequently Dunn had to resign, being charged with orchestrating this investigation. Should she have been forced to resign? As a short answer, yes.

First of all, in order to resolve the legal aspect of Dunn’s involvement, it can be stated that hiring a company with a firm intention to identify the leaker, she had to have an expectation, if not awareness, of the methods such information will be gathered. Thus, the assessment of Dunn’s actions is taken in the context of her involvement in the practice of pretexting, i.e. the main question is whether her actions is a sufficient cause for her forced resignation.

Taking a deontological approach, Dunn’ actions were generally embedded in her responsibility to act in the good of a company. However, was the action of forcing Dunn’s resignation was morally acceptable? Deontology focuses on the action itself, and the will of agents (Kay, 1997). In deontological approach, the action itself is ethical, for many reasons, whether it is the doubtful nature of Dunn’s techniques which cannot be verified to be “complied in all respects with applicable law” (Kaplan, 2006), the invasion on privacy, and shattering the reputation of the company. Thus, as an absolute decision, forcing Dunn to resign can be seen ethical, where the act itself is ethical, in response to questionable behavior, and the will of the board can be assumed to be ethical, which is increasing the environment of trust in the board, its privacy expectations, and restoring its functioning.

In a utilitarian sense, in which the options is considered based on greatest utility different options offer, it can be stated that there is no clear opinion here. The maximum benefit and the least harm is evaluated based on two options leave Dunn at her position or force her to resign. The benefits of Dunn’s resignation in practical terms can be seen through condemning the practices used by Dunn in the future, which in addition to pretexting contained other computer related crimes, such as “unauthorized access” to a computer, or “exceeding the scope of authorization” to access a computer (Rasch, 2006). Keeping Dunn at her position might lead to certain harmful effects, such as the possibility of her being charged with criminal offences, a possibility that might be reflected on the reputation of the company and its stock value. Linking the benefits of Dunn’s actions to the threats of corporate espionage is vague, where despite the loss companies incur from deliberately or inadvertently disclosing confidential or sensitive information (Porter Ii & Griffaton, 2003, p. 69), the practices themselves are related to employees’ workplace. The actions taken by Dunn are related to the violation of reasonable privacy, which board members were expecting (McArthur, 2001).

Thus, it can be concluded that the decision to force Dunn’s resignation is acceptable, despite of the intentions she had when tracking the leak. Long term effects such as the reputation of the company, which will be historically associated with the scandal, should be also taken in consideration.

References

Kaplan, D. A. (2006). Suspicions and Spies in Silicon Valley. Newsweek Business. Web.

Kay, C. D. (1997). Notes on DEONTOLOGY. Wofford College.

McArthur, R. L. (2001). Reasonable expectations of privacy. Ethics and Information Technology, 3, 123-128.

Porter Ii, W. G., & Griffaton, M. C. (2003). Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Monitoring the Electronic Workplace. [Article]. Defense Counsel Journal, 70(1), 65.

Rasch, M. (2006). Liar, Liar, and Pretexting. Security Focus. Web.

Hewlett-Packard Supply Chain

The Hewlett-Packard supply chain consists of “manufacturing, research and development (R&D) sites in 16 countries, and sales and service offices in 110 countries” (Lee and Billington, 1995, p. 43).

As suggested by Lummus and Vokurka (1999) in their study, supply chain cha be defined with the help of the following description, “the processes from the initial raw materials to the ultimate consumption of the finished product linking across supplier user companies” (p. 11). I other words, HP needed a supply chain that would make them more competitive than their rivals and enable them to deliver products manufactured on time in a timely manner.

The supply chain later used in Hewlett-Packard was developed after weighing up the uncertainty issues, identifying and solving the data recording problems, trying to forecast the preferences of customers and probability of orders in future periods of the fiscal year.

For instance, HP “often contracts for raw materials eight months or more before the final product will reach finished goods inventory” (Davis, 1993, p. 39). In this respect, the new strategy was called to analyzing the gaps and drawbacks and applying the latest inventions to the operation.

Strategic Goals of HP

As Hewlett-Packard deals with processing of orders, manufacturing of products and delivery, the company’s CEO and president Lew Platt recognize the necessity of changes and improvements and introduced new strategic goals.

So, Lew Platt identified the key strategic goals for the company in the period of 1993 fiscal year as the most important ones to win the competitive battle and order fulfilment became the top important issue for the managerial. In other words, the company’s goal was to analyze the uncertainties with regard to operational performance and improve the delivery of products as a part of the supply chain.

This supply chain supports the strategic goals of Hewlett-Packard designed for this period by improving the fulfilment of orders as a part of supply chain.

In other words, the WINO (Worldwide Inventory Network Optimizer) was applied to optimize the supply chain for HP that included identification and representation of each separate operation in the network of other operations on every order to increase the forecasting effectiveness; “receiving and production” became the two main operations in the supply chain (Lee and Billington, 1995, p. 47). So, the goal of order fulfilment was supported by improved supply chain that was also improved.

HP supply Chain

As analysis of supply chain was performed, each site identified the prioritizing areas of concern and the areas for investments. In this respect, the strengths of the HP supply chain include that it enables the company to make adequate decisions on each order and fulfil the order in a timely manner attracting more customers and developing the customer loyalty. Besides, supply chain modelling transferred to HP made it possible to map out the problems and identify the less effective areas and solve problems with regard to the identified gaps.

The weaknesses of supply chain still include inventories that depend on forecasting of customer demands and analysis of uncertainties that always occur in any business. The only thing that can be done on this issue has been applied to Hewlett-Packard by prioritizing the area for investment by excluding uncertainties in turn. However, all these weaknesses can be contrasted to strengths that make HP one of the leading companies due to their advanced supply chain management.

Reference List

Davis, T. (1993). Effective supply chain management. Sloan Management Review (Summer), 35-46.

Lee, H. L., and Billington, C. (1995). The evolution of Supply-chain-management models and practice at Hewlett Packard. Interfaces, 25 (5), 42-63.

Lummus, R. R., and Vokurka, R. J. (1999). Defining supply chain management: a historical perspective and practical guidelines. Industrial Management and Data Systems, 99 (1), 11-17.

Working capital: Definition and Management Techniques

Working capital is a measure of business liquidity, and it can be computed by subtracting current liabilities from current assets. Working capital is a significant element of the monetary coordination of an organization. Good monitoring of working capital would result in an enhanced market slice through ensuring a good supply of cheap products. Neglecting to monitor working capital would cause a great loss in market share and decreased profit margins as a result of increased funding costs.

Effective monitoring of working capital includes practices and techniques that focus on managing both current liability and assets effectively. The techniques include cash management, inventory management, account receivable management, and short term funding. I would recommend utilizing cash management and short term funding techniques as they assist in monitoring float (Titman et al., 2011).

Capital planning and internal rate of return important to an organization

Capital planning refers to monitoring practice utilized in determining whether an organization’s long term investment is worth to be followed. Long term investment can comprise newly acquired or replaced machinery, plant, new product, and research development. The internal rate of return (IRR) is significant as it aids an organization in understanding what its rate of return is based on specific investments-the returns from an individual investment.

Net present value, initialed as NPV, determines future cash flow anticipated from individual projects, reduced to present value, and related to the original investment needed by the projects. If the reduced cash-flow projections are the same as or above the original investment, the projects are significant and should be pursued. Otherwise, the organization should consider another opportunity.

At the organization, much of the effort is utilized in creating value for the investor. However, the company uses equity value added (EVA) when selecting projects rather than market value added (MVA). EVA refers to a method of determining the wealth that is beyond the shareholder expected returns. The organization evaluates a monetary decision utilizing the EVA framework. In certain events, the organization chooses between the alternatives generating more positive EVA value (Keown et al., 2005).

Lease or buy a computer system

A lease can be described as a contract between a proprietor of buildings, machines, properties, and a person willing to utilize the assets for a defined period at an explicit fixed value. A basic reason why an individual or organization would decide leasing as opposed to buying is that the transfer of the right from the proprietor vs. the lessee. When an individual or organization hires, they access the rights of utilizing the item provided that the contract is up to date. Another reason is the NPV – a lease may save on cost that sometimes offset the less positive NPV of buying. Regarding the steps, an individual or organization would require calculating the NPV to purchase. If the NPV is positive, then determine the net added lease (NAL). If the NAL is not negative, it implies that NPV cost-benefit over ordinary acquiring is high, and then the computer needs to be hired (Mayo, 2012).

Relationship between strategic and financial planning of Hewlett Packard Company

Hewlett Packard (HP), a technology corporation aimed at developing a platform for ordering individualized computer and computer accessories for their clients. The basis of their business was their capability of maintaining direct relationships with their possible clients and that the corporation has all the time had a competitive edge. HP’s strategy led to the removal of the role played by a middle man because direct costs and other transaction techniques were initiated via different resources, the most common being the e-business. Operating as one of the lowly priced leading corporations in an always technologically evolving sector, HP has succeeded in maintaining its position through continuous creativity, elevated ethical levels, a re-examination of strategic practices, and meeting its monetary goals (Hewlett-Packard Annual Report, 2011).

Strategic and monetary scheduling jointly is seen to be crucial measures for the success and development in Hewlett Packard. The focus of strategic scheduling is in keeping in mind HP’s vision policy and in creating long-term objectives and/or goals that can be attained within a definite period. The long-term objective is then split into smaller attainable units and handed over to the dedicated staff. Strategic rescheduling relates to financial scheduling as the latter guarantees the availability of enough funds budgeted for the continuation of HP’s goals (Keown et al., 2005).

Strategic planning initiative for Hewlett Packard

As in the situation of Hewlett Packard, advocating for alliances and strategic affiliations has been an important venture policy and strategy (Hewlett-Packard Annual Report, 2011, p. 19). Organizations are constantly planning to leverage skills and talents with a view of achieving an optimum return. Regarding environmental retention, HP management is highlighting the gains from these alliances to design creative alternatives. Stakeholders – whether not-for-profit associations, businesses, states, or intrinsic company departments – each have special skills and knowledge that are beneficial to address concerns of sustainability. The ongoing attempt to sustain business policies has led to a chance for new alliances among stakeholders (Hewlett-Packard Annual Report, 2011, p. 27).

All through the renovation procedure, Hewlett Packard has aimed at developing intrinsic relations and alliances with a view of leveraging the current relationships in the corporation. For instance, active relations have been developed with working place Solution, national relationships, global e-platform, and promotion so as to adapt the emerging strategies effectively. These relations and/or alliances are crucial in achieving difficult business objectives (Hewlett-Packard Annual Report, 2011).

References

Keown, A., Martin, D., Petty, W., & Scott, D. (2005). Financial Management: Principles and Applications. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.

Mayo, H. (2012). Basic finance: An introduction to financial institutions, investments, and management (9th ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson.

Titman, S., Keown, A., & Martin, D. (2011). Financial management: Principles and applications (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Hewlett-Packard Annual Report. (2011). Web.

A Strength of Hewlett Packard Corporation

The first strength of Hewlett Packard is the possession of very innovative and affordable products. The company should use the above strength to develop the best online marketing strategies in order to benefit for this opportunity. The company can use this potency to achieve its goals. Several opportunities in this sector support this strength. The first opportunity is the sharp growth in enterprise servers, networking, cloud computing, and data storage. HP’s innovative products are affordable. This situation explains why the company should market its innovative devices using the best online marketing approaches. This approach will attract more customers and fulfill their expectations. Many companies such as Wal-Mart and Tesco Incorporation are planning to use online marketing practices (Macarthy 67).

This opportunity explains why HP can provide networking and cloud computing solutions to these companies. The company should produce and market its superior devices to these customers. Many entrepreneurs and customers are currently using enterprise servers. According to Kourdi (34), the number of online marketers will rise by 60 percent in the next five years. This opportunity can make HP a leading marketer in its business sector. The company should use its online marketing strategy to gather new information about the changing expectations of the customers. This plan will ensure HP sells its innovative products to more consumers. The proposed strategy will succeed because there is a sharp growth in enterprise networking and cloud business. The opportunity will make the marketing strategy successful. HP Incorporation will become a market leader in this sector. The decision to deal with this opportunity will create new options thus making the company a leading marketer. The business will use this opportunity to become the leading provider of different networking and cloud computing solutions.

The Use of Online Marketing Platform for Products and Other Services

It will be appropriate for HP Incorporation to use its large cash flow to produce and market its android devices to every potential customer. Hewlett Packard enjoys being a market leader because of its printing business. HP Incorporation has always increased its income and cash flow from its printing business (Lowitt and Grimsley 4). This position continues to attract more customers. The strength gives HP a competitive edge over its immediate competitors because of its stable cash flow. HP Incorporation can benefit from the current increase in tablet and android markets. The current number of customers for different tablets and android devices is on the rise. HP should use its cash flow to produce quality tablets and android devices for the growing market. Studies indicate that the number of users will increase by 2016 (Pearson 56).

This explains why Hewlett Packard should use it financial strength to produce quality and competitive android devices. The company should embrace the research and development (R&D) practices in order to manufacture quality products. The cash flow from HP’s printing business will also support the best marketing strategy for the products (Neti 6). HP Incorporation should consider the expectations of every consumer in order to produce quality devices and tablets. The potential buyers and users of these products and android devices include teenagers and young adults. The company should explore new markets across the United States in order to compete with some of the leading competitors such as Apple Incorporation, Nokia, Acer, and Toshiba. The company should use its cash flow to widen its market coverage. This approach will attract new customers. Many consumers will admire the company’s new android devices and tablet products. This situation explains why HP Incorporation should use its cash flow to produce the best products in order to realize its business goals.

A Variety of Innovative and Affordable Products

Hewlett Packard can use its strengths to deal with most of the threats affecting its business. Some of the leading threats are the declining market for personal computers (PCs) and the threat from substitute goods. Hewlett Packard should use its innovative products to inform more customers about their effectiveness and superiority. This strategy will deal with the above challenges. HP Incorporation enjoys its innovative and very affordable products. Most of these products include PCs, laptops, tablets, servers, and cloud computing devices. The company should ensure every product is available, affordable, and innovative.

The company should target more markets especially where the number of PC customers is decreasing (Pearson 73). HP Incorporation should inform its customers about the features and benefits of its affordable PCs. The company needs to produce similar devices such as laptops and tablets and promote them successfully. Such products will address the changing needs of the targeted customers. The availability and efficiency of HP’s innovative and quality products will ensure every customer purchases the company’s innovative and quality computers. The practice will deal with the increasing number of substitutes in the market. Some of these substitute products include personal computers and tablets from giant manufacturers. Some of these manufacturers include Acer, Apple, Samsung, Toshiba, Nokia, Dell, and Lenovo.

Most of these companies have a significant market share in the United States. HP’s innovative PCs can compete directly with these substitutes. The decision to market its superior products will attract more customers. The approach will revive the declining PC market in the United States. The products will also address the challenge of substitute goods in the market. HP’s research and development (R&D) strategy helps the company produce quality and competitive devices that can compete in the American market.

Large Cash Flows From Printing Business

Any global economic crisis is capable of affecting the company’s financial strength and business performance. Hewlett Packard stands a chance to overcome this threat. Hewlett Packard can use its financial position and cash flow from its printing business to monitor and forecast its performance throughout the economic crisis. Hewlett Packard can use its large cash flow gained from printing business to solve the current threat arising from global economic crisis. The cash obtained from this printing business can address every overdraft or shortage. The company will use its financial plan to focus on every short-term liquidity consideration.

The company’s cash flow will answer every question that appears to threaten its performance. HP Incorporation will set up a plan to reduce costs throughout the economic crisis. This strategy will support the idea to monitor and forecast its financial performance (Bepari, Rahman, and Mollik 235). This strategy will also ensure the company does not suffer or realize a sudden cash flow shortage. This situation will help the company support its business strategies throughout the period (Laplante 9). Every successful business should always monitor its cash flow in order to overcome every economic crisis. This discussion explains why Hewlett Packard should continue with its business strategy (Preston 46). It should also support its printing business in order to overcome any unforeseeable economic crisis. This practice will make the company a leading marketer of PCs and android devices in the American market. The company’s financial position will support its business strategy throughout the recession period.

Works Cited

Bepari, Khokan, Sheikh Rahman and Taher Mollik. “Value relevance of earnings and cash flows during the global financial crisis.” Review of Accounting and Finance 12.3 (2013): 226-251. Print.

Kourdi, Jeremy. Business Strategy: A Guide to Effective Decision-making. New York: Economist Books, 2013. Print.

Laplante, Mary 2005, Global Content Management: Hewlett-Packard Talks the Talk of Worldwide Business. Web.

Lowitt, Eric and Jim Grimsley. “Hewlett-Packard: Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage.” Institute for Higher Performance 1.1 (2009): 1-15. Globalcitizenship. Web.

Macarthy, Andrew. 500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advice, Hints and Strategy for Business: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and More! New York: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. Print.

Neti, Sisira. “Social Media and Its Role in Marketing.” International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems 1.2 (2011): 1-16. Print.

Pearson, David. The 20 Ps of Marketing: A Complete Guide to Marketing Strategy. New York: Kogan Page, 2013. Print.

Preston, Lynelle. “Sustainability at Hewlett-Packard: From Theory to Practice.” California Management Review 43.3 (2001): 26-37. Print.