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Becoming Hewlett Packard
Book

Becoming Hewlett Packard

Why Strategic Leadership Matters

Robert A. Burgelman, Webb McKinney and Philip E. Meza
Oxford UP, 2016

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Editorial Rating

8

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Recommendation

A company that lives a long time must remain in “a state of becoming,” say authors Robert A. Burgelman, Webb McKinney and Philip E. Meza. A firm that maintains its flexibility can adapt repeatedly to changes in technology or in the market. Because Hewlett Packard’s (HP) founders and subsequent leaders made the ability to change into an intrinsic part of the corporate culture, the company has thrived in several fields, including instrumentation, computers, printers and IT services. The authors analyze how successive CEOs bolstered or undercut HP’s ability to evolve. getAbstract recommends this enlightening, often absorbing history of HP’s executive strategies to entrepreneurs and senior managers.  

Take-Aways

  • Any long-lived company must remain in a “state of becoming.”
  • Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard founded Hewlett Packard (HP) in 1939 to market an audio oscillator.
  • HP adapted to changing conditions numerous times under successive CEOs. Each one took a different strategic approach.

About the Authors

Robert A. Burgelman, the former executive director of Stanford University’s Executive Program, is the Edmund W. Littlefield Professor of Management at Stanford Business School. Consultant Webb McKinney has held engineering and management positions at HP. Consultant and researcher Philip E. Meza focuses on technology strategy and business development.

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