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This is really sad. HP has been making a lot of really interesting strategic decisions lately, some decisions that I think have been set up through acquisitions

by dcurtis 16y ago

This is really sad. HP has been making a lot of really interesting strategic decisions lately, some decisions that I think have been set up through acquisitions and product development over the past few years. Mark Hurd seemed to know what he was doing on a long term scale, which is something unusual in a company like HP. That he was fired over something as unrelated to business skill as sexual harassment is sad. Shame on him, of course, but I wonder if his absence will end up hurting HP more in the long term than his personal actions over the short term. HP recently hired some top notch industrial designers, and their newest computers are built far better than the older ones. The acquisition of WebOS was strategic. HP is poised to take on Android and iOS if they can execute well enough. From what I have seen, HP has been putting all the pieces into place for positioning themselves as the Apple of the PC world, at least in their high end market. They even embarrassed Microsoft by refusing to support the Windows 7 Slate in a consumer device. That's a big risk I was surprised HP took. It sends a message. I was excited about HP’s future, but now I’m not so sure. HP just lost its Steve Jobs. --- Someone else in this thread linked to this awesome NYT article about Hurd: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/technology/companies/26hp.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/technology/companies/26hp....

azim 16y ago
I don't think employees will miss Mark Hurd. It's true that HP's profits are soaring and the stock price is high, but he was an extremely disliked CEO. The rabid cost cutting in recent years made HP an awful place to work. Glassdoor ranked HP has the 3rd worst company to work for in tech in 2009. Product quality has definitely slipped as a result of the low morale. SquareTrade's 2009 laptop reliability survey ranked HP as the least reliable notebook manufacturer. Product delays and cancellations aren't about sending a message to Microsoft, what they're really about is an inability execute on ideas.
- gamble 16y ago
  No one I know in HP is going to miss Hurd. The company has been a miserable place to work since the Fiorina days. Of course that may be a temporary state of affairs, since Hurd has been working to turn HP into a brand name applied to low-end junk designed by contractors in China, and a corporate shell in the US to market it.
anigbrowl 16y ago
That he was fired over something as unrelated to business skill as sexual harassment is sad. It turns out that it was more to do with inappropriate payments to a contractor with whom he had a person relationship. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-06/hp-chief-mark-hurd-resigns-finance-chief-cathie-lesjak-named-interim-ceo.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-06/hp-chief-mark-hurd-... The headlines are rather misleading in this respect...I'm not sure whether that tells us more about journalists or the way HP announced his departure. edit: more comprehensive report w/press release text: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=69578&tsp=1 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_i... But regardless of the specifics, your implication that a firm should employ no other criteria than financial ones for employment decisions is odd to me. Private affairs are one thing, but committing a crime or tort on the job is considered unacceptable for most employees. How much incidental misbehavior do you think is excusable by high productivity? Alternatively, how much lawsuit liability should an employee be able to run up on their own account?
- dcurtis 16y ago
  I don't know the specifics and I don't mean to suggest that what Hurd did was excusable. I am just exploring my thoughts on HP's strategy and how this affects the company and the industry.
- Charuru 16y ago
  Greed. If you're going to have a monetary sexual relationship, might as well as man up and pay from your own pocket, not put it on the company's tab.
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krupan 16y ago
As a former employee, I would say, no, HP just lost it's Darth Vader. Here's hoping they can find someone that understands and respects employees and has some business acumen.
vermontdevil 16y ago
Lower level employees get fired for sexual harassment. Same standards should also apply to CEOs.

by dcurtis 16y ago

azim 16y ago

I don't think employees will miss Mark Hurd. It's true that HP's profits are soaring and the stock price is high, but he was an extremely disliked CEO. The rabid cost cutting in recent years made HP an awful place to work. Glassdoor ranked HP has the 3rd worst company to work for in tech in 2009. Product quality has definitely slipped as a result of the low morale. SquareTrade's 2009 laptop reliability survey ranked HP as the least reliable notebook manufacturer. Product delays and cancellations aren't about sending a message to Microsoft, what they're really about is an inability execute on ideas.

gamble 16y ago
No one I know in HP is going to miss Hurd. The company has been a miserable place to work since the Fiorina days. Of course that may be a temporary state of affairs, since Hurd has been working to turn HP into a brand name applied to low-end junk designed by contractors in China, and a corporate shell in the US to market it.

anigbrowl 16y ago

That he was fired over something as unrelated to business skill as sexual harassment is sad. It turns out that it was more to do with inappropriate payments to a contractor with whom he had a person relationship. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-06/hp-chief-mark-hurd-resigns-finance-chief-cathie-lesjak-named-interim-ceo.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-06/hp-chief-mark-hurd-... The headlines are rather misleading in this respect...I'm not sure whether that tells us more about journalists or the way HP announced his departure. edit: more comprehensive report w/press release text: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=69578&tsp=1 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_i... But regardless of the specifics, your implication that a firm should employ no other criteria than financial ones for employment decisions is odd to me. Private affairs are one thing, but committing a crime or tort on the job is considered unacceptable for most employees. How much incidental misbehavior do you think is excusable by high productivity? Alternatively, how much lawsuit liability should an employee be able to run up on their own account?

dcurtis 16y ago
I don't know the specifics and I don't mean to suggest that what Hurd did was excusable. I am just exploring my thoughts on HP's strategy and how this affects the company and the industry.
Charuru 16y ago
Greed. If you're going to have a monetary sexual relationship, might as well as man up and pay from your own pocket, not put it on the company's tab.
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krupan 16y ago

As a former employee, I would say, no, HP just lost it's Darth Vader. Here's hoping they can find someone that understands and respects employees and has some business acumen.

vermontdevil 16y ago

Lower level employees get fired for sexual harassment. Same standards should also apply to CEOs.