Must-Read: Tim B. Lee: Carly Fiorina’s Controversial Record as CEO, Explained
Must-Read: IMHO, Tim B. Lee gets this one very wrong indeed:
: Carly Fiorina’s Controversial Record as CEO, Explained: “Fiorina’s biggest and most controversial move–acquiring computing rival Compaq…
…The idea was that the two companies would be able to do the things they already did more effectively if they joined forces. Management consultants who examined the merger for HP found that (as Fiorina loved to put it) HP and Compaq ‘fit together like a zipper’…
Stop right there: when you are reduced to quoting management consultants hired to make the case for the deal the CEO wants to do, you are demonstrating that you have no good arguments.
TBL continues:
Bill Hewlett’s son Walter opposed the deal…. Hewlett’s critique of the deal was simple: Compaq was primarily a PC company, and the PC business was not very profitable. By merging with Compaq and swapping stock between the companies, HP was effectively trading a share of its more profitable businesses–especially its lucrative printer business–for a share in Compaq’s less profitable PC business…
And Hewlett was 100% correct.
So why does TBL write this?:
So who was right? It’s hard to say…. While losses in the PC sector were bad, it’s quite possible that the efficiency gains achieved in other parts of the company more than offset the increased exposure to the PC business.
What efficiency gains? What other parts of the company?
TBL never says.
And he continues:
The real question is whether she can convince voters that she has the best vision for the country’s future.
No, the real question is whether she has and can execute the best vision for the country’s future. The important thing for Vox to be focusing on is policies, not media strategies.