Word: mergerism
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...board of directors at Hewlett-Packard had admired many things about their star CEO. Asked to bring change to the doddering Silicon Valley giant, she pursued the task fearlessly, her efforts culminating in a controversial merger with Compaq. Asked to inject pizazz into HP's pedestrian marketing, she overhauled it right down to the corporate logo. Asked to create a strategic vision for a company that had none, she came up with dazzling insights into "transformational trends" and a hyperdigital future in which HP would serve consumers and corporations at every stage. But the board ultimately concluded that Fiorina...
...that also does long division, and its decision to get out of the business spotlighted Fiorina's opposite bet. Under her command, HP in 2002 spent $19 billion buying Compaq, largely to expand its position in PCs and fight off Dell, the market's low-cost leader. Though the merger had produced cost savings--and wrenching layoffs--profits remained hard to come by. In 2003, despite Fiorina's promises that operating margins would reach 3%, the company's PC division earned a meager 0.1% on $21.2 billion in sales. And last August, the company's Enterprise Servers and Storage Group...
...directors, growing bolder, presented Fiorina with her effective demotion. The approach of a damning cover story in FORTUNE reportedly hastened her departure. The piece, headlined "Why Carly's Big Bet Is Failing," included on-the-record quotes by HP insiders criticizing Fiorina and laid out in wincing detail the merger's failure to produce the financial results she had long promised...
Though the merger did produce significant cost savings, it did not improve HP's strategic position. In consumer PCs, HP is still getting punished by Dell, which just reported record numbers. On the computer- services side, HP is mostly stuck in the maintenance business, where margins are shrinking. Even HP's best performer--the $24.2 billion printer and imaging-products business, which yielded 73% of profits last year--is under pressure. Dell has entered the printer market and already has a 13% share of the U.S. inkjet-printer market...
...powers that be in Hollywood sought us out to fill highly competitive job slots. At the Disney/ABC Company, we met with representatives of Strategic Planning, Window Producing (marketing) and Creative Development. We watched point-by-point PowerPoint presentations that educated us on the structural components of the conglomerate merger, emphasizing the “wholesome and honest” image Disney strives to uphold in order to maintain its mass appeal...