The experience of an international student

As I said last time, Mark Hurd has steered HP back on track. But it's not without concerns. Everybody knows the PC market is a commodity business, claiming victory in this war won't bring you anywhere in the long run. In fact, the public is already discussing whether Hurd can propel HP further ahead from this point, because after all, he's a great operations guy, a great executor, but not a great visionary.

But now there is a great opportunity for HP partly because of its success in the PC market. Below is another excerpt from the HP/Compaq acquisition case we did in the M&A class.
"In the early years after the acquisition, HP focused mostly on the integration of the two companies and fighting the PC war. It's understandable that it paid less attention to the server market then. Yet as it's successfully reinforced its position in the PC market and given Dell some homework to do, it's time to put more attention on the server end. Right now Sun has been fading for several years, IBM is giving up the hardware business little by little, Dell is busy solving its own problems in PC business, and the new bloods such as Lenovo and Acer haven't grown strong enough to attack the high end market yet. It's the best timing for HP to fight for leadership position in the server market, and the window won't last more than a few years. "

The analysis is based on my limited understanding of the PC and server market, and I hope it's not too far off. Yet what we found out is that Hurd is converting HP into a home electronics company and cutting R&D expense to save cost. No wonder people start casting doubts on him. Maybe it is time to bring Fiorina back to the game.