Hewlett Packard
Essays

Hewlett Packard is one of the most studied corporations in business education, appearing frequently in management, organizational behavior, strategy, and human resources courses. Its decades-long history as a technology industry pioneer gives it relevance across multiple disciplines, and its repeated cycles of growth, restructuring, and reinvention make it a rich subject for academic analysis. The company's experiences with leadership transitions, competitive positioning, and operational transformation offer students concrete material for applying core business theories to a real and complex organization.

The papers collected on this topic reflect a wide range of analytical approaches. Organizational structure and departmentalization are examined directly, alongside broader studies of structural change and how it is institutionalized over time. Several papers take a case-study approach to specific strategic decisions, including supply chain management for the DeskJet printer in Europe, cloud computing positioning, and the Kittyhawk team's innovation strategy. Leadership receives significant attention, particularly CEO succession and the leadership style of figures such as Meg Whitman. Human resources functions and competitive advantage also appear as distinct angles, showing how broadly the company's operations invite scrutiny.

A strong essay on Hewlett Packard benefits from a clearly scoped thesis that connects one aspect of the company — such as a structural decision, a leadership change, or a market strategy — to a recognizable business framework rather than attempting to survey the entire organization. Evidence drawn from specific business outcomes, internal processes, or documented decisions tends to carry more weight than general reputation claims. The most common pitfall is treating HP as a monolithic success story; the strongest analyses acknowledge the tensions and failures that make the company genuinely instructive.