Hp At A Strategic Cross Road

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December 13, 2005 11:24 AM PST, HP discloses strategy for recovery, By Marguerite Reardon, Staff Writer, CNET News

• Hurd said revenue is expected to grow to $91 billion in fiscal 2006, up from $89.5 billion the previous year. In fiscal 2007, which begins in November 2006, profit margins are expected to grow to 8 percent, up from 7.5 percent the previous year. Specifically, HP is focusing on three major businesses: enterprise virtualisation, high-end printing and mobility.

• Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of the imaging and printing group, said it will take a combination of all these smaller printing markets to hit the revenue growth target of 4 percent to 6 percent.

• Since taking the reins from former CEO Carly Fiorina, Hurd has focused on cutting costs. He has cut more than 15,000 jobs in the past six months and has restructured the business, eliminating a sales division.

• Going after smaller companies that will help fill out product and technology holes in the markets on which HP is already focused.

• Key to meeting financial goals is how well the company executes on its strategy. Hurd said that beyond introducing more incentives for its work force to increase productivity, HP needs to focus on improving leadership and fostering more accountability within every division of the company.

• I've got a few suggestions to the HP board:

1. Bring the HP way back. Cut back on stupid stuff and re-introduce the morning croissants to start with. Productivity should rise significantly.

2. Value your employees. Make them believe in the company again, not just in the cheque at the end of the week. Involve them, train them, give them a sense that HP is a family once more. They will become your best sales force, your best consultants, your best customer contacts.

3. Double your R&D. Re-design the expensive laptop, the bloated PC. Create SMB appliances (the largest growth potential ever). Take bold partnership decisions (ISP, cable operators, etc.). Be a trend-setter again.

A friend.

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January 23, 2006 4:00 AM PST, HP outlines long-term strategy, By Dawn Kawamoto and Tom Krazit, Staff Writers, CNET News

• Hurd has previously said market trends indicate a movement away from mainframe computers and a shift to blade servers, as well as virtualized storage. HP is likely to follow those trends.

• Mott will help HP implement the back-end processes that are needed to operate a top-notch direct-order Web site.

• Information-intensive tasks like gathering and sorting reams of customer data and quickly reacting to changes in component costs are vital to improving the efficiency of a direct sales operation, and Mott's experience implementing such a system at Dell will be invaluable to HP.

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