Essay on Business: Hewlett-packard and Hp’s Strategy

Submitted By Chloefishfish520
Words: 423
Pages: 2

1. The Hewlett-Packard board of directors failed to fulfill its duties to the company’s share owners. Through all the fighting and bickering, the board of directors disagreed with one another on various topics and violated their duties by acting in self-interested ways. Hp’s CEO Fiorina had little respect for HP’s board of directors and their opinions, creating a divided and hostile environment. This caused Perkins, Keyworth, and Hackborn to function as a “board within a board”, violating their duty to include all members to discuss issues and potential problems that could affect the company. As earnings fell, the board of directors also failed to evaluate Fiorina’s performance, who resisted entering into the management process. Another part of their duty is to give advice and counsel management towards corporation’s goals and strategy. After the acquisition with Compaq however, the board failed to oversee HP’s performance to make sure that the merger was meeting expectations. Because of this, HP lost market shares and managers to competitors. Also, during large resignations after firing Fiorina, the board voted to double its compensation even though the company’s performance was doing poorly. As directors, they were to exercise oversight of ethics and compliance programs, but a major issue they faced was trust. Many leaks to the media showed a breach of confidentiality, making it harder for directors to openly discuss HP’s strategy and compromising decisions. I believe that the company’s poor performance was due to a struggle for power within the board instead of their duty to oversee HP’s strategy and business planning process.Our goal is a positive result and