當務之急:惠普掌門新官上任5把火
????首席執行官可不是件容易的差事。如果要掌管的是一家對未來并沒有清晰規劃的大型公司,那就更艱難了。惠普公司(HP)的李艾科上任一年不到就遭到驅逐,將CEO寶座拱手讓給梅格?惠特曼,其中甘苦他應該深有體會。 ????惠普公司一路走來坎坷不斷。自李艾科執掌大權并大刀闊斧推行改革以來,公司股價已下挫47%。他的舉措包括:砍掉新近上馬的一條移動設備生產線,將網絡操作系統(WebOS)打入冷宮,并宣布可能剝離個人服務集團(Personal Services Group)。與此同時,他宣布斥資103億美元收購英國管理軟件公司Autonomy,這一決定則讓大家感到震驚。惠普公司內部消息人士還告訴《財富》雜志(Fortune),李艾科因為不具備前任首席執行官馬克?赫德那樣的數字天賦而飽受折磨。因此,他的非正式員工支持率跌至25%也就不足為奇了。 ????現在,所有難題都落到了惠特曼頭上。公司召開電話會議宣布對她的任命時,董事會新任執行主席雷?萊恩稱:“梅格在技術上具有遠見卓識,她擁有可靠的管理資歷。”也許吧。惠特曼作為惠普董事會的一員深知前路艱難——在升任首席執行官后首次接受科技博客All Things D的采訪中,她對此坦承不諱。她說:“我下定決心,要讓公司回到正軌。”如果她真想有機會兌現這番話,她就需要立即采取以下5大舉措。 整頓PC業務 ????上個月,惠普公布了一個舉世震驚的消息,宣布可能會剝離或賣掉其銷售PC硬件的個人系統集團。這個部門是惠普最大的營收來源之一,但也是利潤最微薄的(它恰恰也是讓惠普廣為人知的一個部門)。萊恩稱,公司不會賣掉這個部門,言下之意就是,如果剝離不可避免,惠普可能會將這一集團變為部分持股,獨立運營的公司。在這一問題上,惠特曼似乎腳踩兩只船,既對前任的戰略表示支持,又說會對此舉再做審視。這種表態不免讓分析人士感到困惑。 ????相關決策宜早不宜遲。如果惠普想要調整業務重點,像IBM公司IBM一樣將企業用戶及軟件服務作為主要業務,那就得當機立斷。 迅速處置Web OS資產 |
????It's not easy being CEO. That's especially true if you run a massive company that doesn't quite know what to do with itself. HP's Leo Apotheker learned the hard way when he was ousted to make room for Meg Whitman barely a year into the job. ????It's been a rough ride for HP (HPQ). The company's stock has tumbled as much as 47% since Apotheker took the reigns and effectively slashed and burned his way through the company, killing off a recently launched line of mobile devices, putting the WebOS operating system on ice and announcing the potential spin-off of the Personal Services Group. Meanwhile, a $10.3 billion decision to acquire British management software firm Autonomy raised plenty of eyebrows. Sources inside HP also told Fortune Apotheker suffered for not having former-CEO Mark V. Hurd's aptitude for numbers. It's no surprise his informal employee approval rating plummeted to just 25%. ????Now the job is all Whitman's. During the company's conference call announcing her appointment, new executive chairman Ray Lane said, "Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution." Perhaps. Whitman, an HP board member and director, knows the road ahead is a tough one -- she admitted as much during her first interview as CEO with All Things D. "I am resolved to restore it to its rightful place," she said. Here are 5 moves she needs to make right away if she wants to have a chance of making that the case. Sort out the PC business. ????Last month, the company dropped a bombshell, announcing it might spin-off or sell its Personal Systems Group, which sells PC hardware. The division is one of HP's largest revenue sources, but also its least profitable. (It happens to be what most people know HP for as well.) Lane has said the company would not sell it off, insinuating that if a spin-off were to happen, HP might turn the group into a partially owned, independently operated company. Whitman seemed to be on both sides of the issue, expressing support for her predecessor's strategy but also saying she'd take a second look at the move. That left analysts totally confused. ????A decision should be made sooner rather than later. If HP wants to refine its focus, make enterprise and software services its bread and butter like IBM (IBM), get it over with. Make a plan (for Web OS). Any plan. |