Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Why HP Should Sell Its PC Business To Save It

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the anywhere-but-here dept.

packetrat writes "Hewlett Packard may not be in danger as a company, but its future in the PC business is in doubt, thanks to former CEO Leo Apotheker's maneuvers to turn HP into IBM. This article at Ars says Meg Whitman should go ahead and sell off the PC business — mostly because HP's management is so inept, it would likely do better without them. Agilent seems to be doing okay since it was spun off in 1999, but HP may have spun off its soul in the process."

9 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. To maximize shareholder value... by RocketRabbit · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They should just concentrate on the one really profitable thing they do - making ink.

    Or they should just sell off their assets, and then pay the shareholders off.

  2. HP Didn't Spin Off Its Soul by 14erCleaner · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's soul was eaten by Carly.

    --
    Have you read my blog lately?
    1. Re:HP Didn't Spin Off Its Soul by inviolet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's soul was eaten by Carly.

      Some will consider you flippant or flamebait, but I think you've spoke more truth than you'll get credit for. The leader's personality percolates and pervades through an organization, driving out (directly and indirectly) those not orthogonal to it. HP had a different personality after her tenure than it did before.

      --
      FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
    2. Re:HP Didn't Spin Off Its Soul by inviolet · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Someone should write a paper or a book about the destruction of American business by the MBA.

      My brother could contribute to the project. He was a pedigreed professor of finance who could teach anywhere he chose. After a few years he was offered tenure. He realized then that his job had become the mass-production of MBAs, very very few of whom were at all receptive to the most crucial idea he tried to impart to them: you should make money, not merely get money.

      Seeing then that the fruit of his labors were ruining our society, he quit to start over becoming a EE. I admire him for that.

      --
      FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
    3. Re:HP Didn't Spin Off Its Soul by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Informative

      That book exists: "Managers, not MBAs", by Henry Mintzberg. Well worth a read... and rather than a baseless rant, it's a well-argued book written by someone in the know.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    4. Re:HP Didn't Spin Off Its Soul by uniquename72 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Someone should write a paper or a book about the destruction of American business by the MBA.

      I'd read this book, and hope one of the case studies would be about Border Books, a fantastic company of the '80s and early '90s. Then the creators and early executives left and the whole board was taken over by MBAs who had never worked in a bookstore, had no idea why Borders was superior to (or even different from) Barnes & Noble, and didn't understand anything about how the internet was changing retail.

      Then the company died.

  3. Didnt work out well for IBM's products by sethstorm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    After IBM PCD was sold off to Lenovo, the quality has decreased.

    Their well-known Thinkpad product line transitioned from a no compromise option to a lesser product. First, the high-quality Flexview displays went. Next was any non-widescreen display, followed by the split into the current models seen today. In trying to globalize a US brand, they killed what made the Thinkpads unique - being able to pay a good amount of money, and get a no-nonsense, no-compromise product.

    As for HP:
    The damage at HP was done during Fiorina's time. You want to blame anyone, you pin it on her. Not Hurd, or Apotheker.

    Engineering a product for the Third World and then simply changing the product manuals/power plugs for the First World always results in an inferior product. Selling it off to an interest in the Third World guarantees this outcome.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  4. perfect match by tverbeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    HP and Netflix really ought to merge. After spinning off the PC division.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  5. It's not that they lack vision by symbolset · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the PC space there is no road to real innovation. Operating margins are 5 percent at best, in a good year. You cannot differentiate with your prime products because another company owns the entire user experience. One failed product and you've left the shareholders with no profits at all. And if you experiment with new ways of doing things like Android on ARM Microsoft is going to pull your co-marketing dollars and leave you with no profits at all and no hope of getting any. The path is really just not there.

    Apple did it, but look how: they built their own brand and earned a brand premium through differentiation and outstanding design. With those premiums they invested in innovation without being sucked into the trap of surrendering the user experience. With each new thing they could charge more and better premiums until they could reach escape velocity with an ecosystem that's uniquely theirs.

    No PC OEM can pull that off without letting go of those no-margin PC revenues. No doubt it's a tough sell to the shareholders and the board. But it's the right thing to do. Ultimately HP cut the chains it or we'll get our innovation from new players like Samsung, HTC and so on rather than traditional PC OEMs. We've seen the future, and it ain't this.

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.