hewlett packard description
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LENGTH: 1378 words
EMPLOYEES: 86,200
DESCRIPTION: Bet-the-farm courage or conspicuous consumption? Either way, Hewlett-Packard (HP) has gotten a whole lot bigger. Now rivaling longtime market ruler IBM in size, HP provides enterprise and consumer customers a full range of high-tech products, including personal computers, servers, storage products, printers, software, and computer-related services. The company has seen extensive restructuring under the leadership of CEO Carly Fiorina, who spearheaded the largest deal in tech sector history: the acquisition of Compaq Computer in a stock transaction valued at approximately $ 19 billion.
The monster acquisition was championed by Fiorina, whose previous efforts to transform the expansive hardware company included scaling back operations, a push toward services, and a complete overhaul of the company's structure that consolidated more than 80 units into four groups. It was speculated that failure to get the acquisition passed would end Fiorina's career at HP, as the deal met with heated opposition from many of HP's shareholders, including members of both the Hewlett and Packard families.
The embattled CEO is now faced with the staggering task of integrating the two giants while remaining focused on customers. The company's integration plan has entailed organizing the combined operations into four major business groups: enterprise systems, services, imaging and printing systems, and personal systems; it also includes a workforce reduction of 10%, or some 15,000 employees, as it eliminates redundant product groups. Michael Capellas initially served as president under Fiorina, but the former Compaq CEO left HP in late 2002 to become CEO of troubled telecom giant WorldCom.
The combined company boasts greatly improved market share across a number of hardware lines, including UNIX and Windows-based servers, enterprise storage, and personal computers...