Summary
Charles H. House and Raymond L. Price trace the transformations that carried Hewlett-Packard through several different businesses. Their account examines how new work began inside the company, gained support and reached customers. It connects product changes with the operating practices, management choices and organizational principles that made change possible. The authors place particular weight on innovation that begins close to the work, offers a contribution to customers and has room to grow. Their history is broader than a portrait of either founder: it follows a company shaped by Hewlett and Packard into later stages. It provides a way to study how an established culture can support repeated changes in direction.
Why read it Our view
Use this company history to compare the operating arrangements behind repeated product and business changes. Ask how an idea gets support, who can test it with customers and what must change when a new line outgrows the structure that first protected it.
Written about
- David PackardHistory of the company Packard co-foundedHouse and Price study HP’s business transformations and the management practices associated with its founders. This is a company history with a direct Packard connection; it is not a claim that he read or endorsed it.Source