Hewlett Packard Company

This research presents a strategic analysis of the HewlettPackard Company. The results of the analysis are presented in separate sections concerning: (1) company profile; (2) strengths and weaknesses; (3) competitive advantage/disadvantage, and opportunities/threats; (4) primary strategies; (5) alternative strategies; (6) managerial assessment; and (7) an overall assessment of the company.

HewlettPackard is a major designer and manufacturer of precision electronic products.1 In the context of annual sales volume, the company is the fourth ranking in the computer and peripherals industry. When those ahead of you are IBM, DEC, and Unisys, the steps back to number four are quite large.2

William Hewlett and David Packard started their business in David Packard's garage in 1938, in Palo Alto, California.3

1G. A. Niemond, "HewlettPackard," Value Line Investment Survey, 4 August 1989, 1096.

2G. A. Niemond, "Computer and Peripherals Industry," Value Line Investment Survey, 4 August 1989, 107778.

3M. Moskowitz, M. Katz, and R. Levering, Everybody's Busi ness, rev. ed. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1982), 432.

2Their first product was a new type of audio oscillator, which is a device used in the measuring of sound waves. The initial order for the product was placed by Walt Disney Studios.

During the Second World War, the company received a governme

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earn profits in 1986. HewlettPackard was one of these firms. Value Line also predicted that those firms in the midst of new product life cycles should also do well in 1986. HwelettPackard was also one of these firms. There were two factors to which Value Line attributed the lowgrowth prospects in the computer and peripherals industry. First was the unsteady American economy. While Value Line did not project a recession in 1986, even without a recession conditions were sufficiently uncertain as to cause potential buyers to be quite cautious with respect to major investments, such as the purchase of computers. The second negative factor related to the shortened product life cycles which tend to characterize the computer and peripherals industry, as a result of rapid technological change. There is a strong fear among potential buyers that a product purchased today may become obsolete before an acceptable return on investment can be obtained. Companies, of which HewlettPackard was one, "which have consistently offered customers a clear upward migration path . . . have largely sidestepped this . . . pitfall; companies that haven't . . . have . . . suffered as a result."10 Of even greater significance a
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Approximate Word count = 2674
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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