Could Carly Have Been Right?
from the a-bit-early-to-judge,-but... dept
I usually hate articles that try to determine the success or failure of a merger/acquisition deal very early into the process. However, this Forbes article suggests that, so far, HP has done a much better than expected job in bringing Compaq into the fold. The areas they were expected to get clobbered in have held up. The disgruntled employees have probably been pushed out, leading to fewer internal strife and complaints. The article credits the thorough job management did planning out the integration well before the merger was finalized. I still think that it's a bit early to call the final result, but it sounds like they've executed well so far on integration. Now, we have to see if the combined forces add up to a stronger company.
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Carly will crash and burn, says Cringely
1. HP/Compaq will continue its long slide to oblivion. It is amazing to read lately all the news stories that say how well Carly Fiorina has done at integrating the two companies when the merger is, in fact, a train wreck. Sales and market share are both down. Everything Walter Hewlett said would happen is happening. The key moment was a boardroom showdown in October between Fiorina and former Compaq CEO Michael Capellas, then the new president of HP. Capellas presented a plan to become more like Dell, building computers to order. Fiorina said it was best to stick with resellers. The board sided with Fiorina and Capellas left the company two weeks later. Smart guy. Given that half the PC retailers in America are under Chapter XI bankruptcy as that industry segment dies, Capellas was right, Fiorina was wrong, and HP is toast. This is a sad end for a company with such a fine engineering and management tradition.
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