Hewlett Packard Case Study Summary

Hewlett Packard (HP)’s computer systems organizations (CSO) was the market leader for computer production, which its unique selling proposition is price and performance. In HP’s CSO, its customers were segmented into three categories: enterprise customers, small to medium size businesses, and individual customers. As time went on, the electronics industry slowed down and the market became saturated. HP tried to reposition itself by evolving from a manufacturer of “hot boxes” into a global supplier of information appliances and solutions, they also introduced new computers with new core technology, and also entered into partnerships and pursued acquisitions. As a result, HP redefined its competitive strategy and revamping its product lines.

They are connected through HP’s sales representatives. As for small to medium size businesses, they tend to spend below $250 thousand on orders each month or quarter. They are connected through a combination of HP’s sales representatives and channel partners. The case recommended an optimal sales approach along with combining standardization and customization including leveraging three streams of sales opportunities: upstream, midstream, and downstream. Though by combining standardization and customization can lead to an effective approach, however, Dudley’s sales process audits showed that HP’s sales representatives were unhappy and felt overworked due to the growing pressure of the implemented sales strategy and time allocation. The sales representatives were experiencing high levels of stress and felt that they spent too much time on administrative tasks: ranging from ordering and mailing marketing literature to overseeing order processing and tracking order status on a daily basis. Though Dick Knudtsen created office administration support specialists to help ease the burden of HP’s sales representatives (e.g. administrative tasks to constructing packages to meet customers and ensure a smooth transaction), they feel HP was still not giving enough training and resources to manage their

To survive in downstream, there needs to be an improving operational efficiency, as for midstream, there needs to be a selection of accounts but knowing which opportunities to follow, and finally, upstream needs to sell concepts and be able to deliver their promises to the customer. HP’s current migration strategy was to enter an account at the downstream business, and move up into the midstream business, then finally penetrate the upstream business. The alternative model to this is portfolio management. It would be entering an account at many levels and being tailored to fit different sales