Carl Fiorina? He'd Probably Be Out of Work, Too

	posted by Matt on 11:58 PM February 13th, 2005
	bandersnatch writes "From The New York Times, THE question was bound to come up: If Carleton S. Fiorina were a man, would the outcome of her turbulent tenure as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard have been different? Most management specialists say no. They contend that the company's misguided Compaq acquisition and sluggish performance would have taken down any chief executive, of either sex. And many note that Hewlett-Packard has tried hard to avoid any taint of sex discrimination; one woman, Ann M. Livermore, a respected Hewlett executive, is a possible candidate to replace Ms. Fiorina, and another, Patricia C. Dunn, is the nonexecutive chairwoman of Hewlett's board. As usual, feminists are spreading their doom and gloom message equating Carly's firing as a major setback for women."

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Gee, I Only Wish (Score:2) by Luek on 01:40 AM February 14th, 2005 EST (#1) Hey, if I was going to get a $21 Million Dollar severance package(ching...ching)like she is going to get for basically fucking up and getting fired for it I wouldn't mind. One hell of a golden parachute!

Sigh.... (Score:0) by Anonymous User on 05:10 AM February 14th, 2005 EST (#2) This article is another little bit of subtle pressure on companies over future appointments. Top male CEOs are fired all the time. Fiorina was top dog at HP for a good few years - it's not like she only lasted 9 months or anything. However, to even ask the question if her gender was a factor in her resignation is irritating. Firstly, it raises the question (even if minutely) in peoples' minds that it might have been. Secondly, it's a double slap for the people (mainly men) who put her in the job in the first place. Are they really so mixed up that they would overwhelmingly put a woman in charge only to seethe quietly about it until they could get rid of her? Oh yeah - don't forget to allow her to stay in the job for a number of years before your jealousy forces her out. If I was an HP exec, I'd boycotting newspapers like this which write non-articles like this. Whether their position after analysis is that gender wasn't a factor or not, they're contributing to the climate that makes people ask the question in the first place. Rob

....Ahh, you know, I don't know...Merger.. (Score:1) by SacredNaCl on 12:07 PM February 14th, 2005 EST (#3) But I do know how I felt about the merger between Compaq & HP. I thought, wow, two big companies that suck become one huge company that really sucks. Outside of a few business class machines and the Alpha (and it was dated even then), Compaq had been producing absolute garbage for computers and basically running any sense of 'good name' they had into the ground for many years. Not that they had much sense of good name to begin with. HP, while making a few decent (and insanely overpriced) business class laser printers was most profitible making consumer level junk inkjet printers on the "give away the printer, sell the ink for 30,000 times the price of gold" formula. When they moved into computers they were doing it at a loss, and the only way they could redeem anything was to bundle a printer with it and hope they bought a lot of ink. On top of it, HP entered a market where everyone else making consumer level "junk" was getting their rears kicked by Dell (who had just turned to making junk), and it set a race to the bottom. Any CEO responsible for this should have been sacked. Not only was the merger not going to add value, but the decision for HP to move into computers was brutal and foolish. The decision to completely abandon quality was also foolish. In the short run you sell a few units you wouldn't have on price, in the long run you destroy any reputation you had as a decent company with decent products. What good does it do to make the sale if they will never buy from you again -- ever? Both HP & Compaq were headed to the dumps before this CEO took power, she made some real boners to add to it, but she didn't do anything to turn it around either, and they gave her time. 70% loss of value, even with the merger the two companies now have less market share than compaq alone had before the merger. Can you say failure on every front? I hate to say it, but the only company making comsumer level "quality" anything is Emachines, and right up until the Gateway merger they were fixing their mistakes of short changing quality for price and getting their reputation *(and sales figures) back. I can't speak for after the merger with Gateway (one I think that didn't benefit Emachines at all, another boner decision), but before then they showed it was possible to turn it around in that market by NOT cutting corners and actually delivering a decent product. If the CEO of HP/Compaq had a clue, and if the next one has a clue, they will learn from this and go the way of quality. Pretty much everyone who sacrificed quality is out of the market or greatly reduced their market share except for Dell. Gateway was quality, they went cheap -- tanked. IBM was extreme quality - went cheap - they just sold their computer division to some company in China because there wasn't any money left in it. Remember Packard Bell --- Emachines was in danger of being run out of town like they were (or forced to sell junk on the European market only ..."new group of suckers"), where are they now? The new HP & Compaq machines have the worst of both of those companies. Can't upgrade them, severely under powered power supply, "molded plastic bits" holding case together to make it hard to work on, "cut your hands to shred" cheap rusting steel cases, you don't even get install media and even if you did it would be a 'restore image' bundled with garbage. If HP wants to turn it around, they need to focus on making printers, the only area they make money, and either get out of the PC business, or do it right and use their buying power to build quality. It's a wide open market for a quality maker, and you don't even have to be "good", you just have to suck less. Freedom Is Merely Privilege Extended Unless Enjoyed By One & All.

Re:....Ahh, you know, I don't know...Merger.. (Score:1) by Ragtime on 07:29 PM February 14th, 2005 EST (#6) SacredNaCl wrote, "I hate to say it, but the only company making comsumer level "quality" anything is Emachines" A small correction: that should say, "but the only company making comsumer level "quality" INTEL-based computers is Emachines" There are other computer manufacturures making very good, very high quality equipment (and operating systems). Apple and Sun come immediately to mind. Ragtime The Uppity Wallet The opinions expressed above are my own, but you're welcome to adopt them.

you're missing a bunch (Score:1) by scudsucker on 04:16 AM February 15th, 2005 EST (#7) HP was more than just a maker of crappy PC's and cheap inkjet printers. They also make good money on good laser printers and plotters. They also had very profitable calculators and testing equipment, but in one of HP's more stupid moves, those divisions got spun off into a sperate company. The Alpha, dated? At what point are you talking here? Back in the day, the Alpha blew the doors off anything in its class. It wasn't a wild success because DEC was run by engineers and lacked good salespeople. Fiorina, on the other hand, made her name in sales and didn't know a damn thing about engineering. Another reason Fiorina wanted Compaq for Compaq pay curves. Employees who had been at the middle of the pay curve at HP suddenly found themselves at the top of Compaq's pay curve, so they wont see a raise for years. "...show young men an ideal of manhood that respects women and rejects violence" George W. Bush - Republican 2005

...*yawn*... (Score:0) by Anonymous User on 01:45 PM February 14th, 2005 EST (#4) It's just the same old tired line that fembots use, basicaly. If a female exec gets fired it's sexism and misogyny, if a male gets fired it's because he was evil or something. ......*YAWN!*....... Anyone have any "NO-DOZE"??   Thundercloud.   "Hoka hey!"

Re:...*yawn*... (Score:1) by scarbo3 on 03:51 PM February 14th, 2005 EST (#5) Similarly, if she was hired because she was a woman, that's great, according to women's groups. If she was fired because she was a woman, that's horrible.

Maybe and Attention (Score:1) by ArtflDgr on 01:10 PM February 15th, 2005 EST (#8) "Maybe she would have resigned if she were male, too, but you can bet that resignation wouldn't get the attention it's getting if her name were Carl and not Carly," this is interesting...because the men arent paying MORE attention.. any enhanced attention is now coming from the people that are pointing it out!!!! right now the only articles i can read are the ones that have some feminist comment.. the business articles are cut and dry before the fem spin. she got the job.. didnt listen to her own people, took garbage and made more garbage.. now its someone elses turn.. done deal.. thats it.. no one EXCEPT the Feministas are talking about it.. for sure the men arent saying its becaue she is a woman.. its because she is a bad leader that HAPPENS to be a woman.

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