Can Leo Apotheker be exactly the medicine Hewlett-Packard
There are some early signs of improvement in HP under new CEO Apotheker. At first glance, you might think I'm bonkers: Both sales and earnings growth slowed down in the fourth quarter when compared to full-year numbers. Moreover, guidance for the coming year points to even slower revenue growth yet. Isn't that a lobster walk? Bring back Mark Hurd!
But then you're not seeing the forest for the trees. Apotheker promises to increase R&D spending and reinforce the old innovation culture at HP, which is a complete reversal from Hurd's merciless cost-cutting. Leo has only spent three weeks at his HP desk (or running away from Oracle
Moreover, it only makes sense if Apotheker takes HP away from the current hardware-and-services model and adds a healthy dose of software to the mix, as he implied in the earnings call. After all, he was groomed in the software powerhouse SAP
So HP may have a good thing going here. Is Apotheker doing enough to reverse the damage done by Hurd? Discuss in the comments below.