These days I tend to write as much about companies as I do about products. With the constantly changing fortunes of companies today it is important to be aware of what is happening with them, and what their future prospects are. In this area I have spent a lot of time in recent months looking at Creo and Kodak, but more of that later in this article.

The company causing the greatest interest at present is Hewlett Packard (HP). This is because the recent dismissal of their Chairman and CEO, Carly Fiorina. She has been the most high-level female CEO in the USA, and also the one with the highest public profile through her aggressive business approach. She was brought into HP from the communications industry. Ms Fiorina has been the architect of recent changes within HP, and has fought through these changes, often without the support of certain other Board members. This has been an acquisition strategy. Her first attempts were to acquire one of the major corporate and IT consultancy companies. She then acquired the leading computer company Compaq for around $18 billion, despite huge resistance from certain Board members and other shareholders. The strategy was to leverage the positions of HP and Compaq, two leaders of the computer industry to establish a dominant position. After some years this has been seen to be a disastrous decision as HP/Compaq have lost market share. They are now number two to Dell. In fact Michael Dell, Dell’s founder and Chairman stated the merging of these two companies was the best possible thing for Dell. At the same time HP has lost revenue and market share in the IT markets where it sells network computer servers and applications.

Ms Fiorina’s strategy of acquisition caused HP to lose sight of its core business. This being office ink jet and laser printers, and the cash cow for the company with consumable revenues from selling ink. Ink sold as cartridges for ink jet printers is hugely profitable. It is understood that one liter of HP ink sells for substantially more than one liter of the finest French champagne. In the printer area, HP has lost market share to companies like Lexmark, Canon, and Xerox.