惠普遭遇打印机之痛

    然而让人有点诧异的是，惠普此举似乎并没能触动华尔街。投资银行及资产管理机构Needham公司认为，惠普这么做的好处“微不足道”，而且要真正变成现实也需要很长时间。晨星公司（Morningstar）则认为此举算是合理，但“远远改变不了大局。”而高盛公司（Goldman Sachs）则认为，此举“颇不足取”，因为这两个部门的战略收获将十分有限。

    对某些人来说，最让人担忧的是维奥梅什•乔希的退休。他在打印机部门三十年的辉煌历程中一直扮演者领军人的角色。但是，巨变来临之际，他却功成身退了。此外，还有一篇花絮报道，也就是艾维克合伙人公司（Evercore Partners）所作的题为《一场毫无成效的改革》（Making Changes that Don't Really Change Anything）的报告曾经指出的一段插曲：2005年，时任首席执行官的卡莉•费奥莉娜也曾经将个人电脑部门和打印机部门合二为一，而区区6个月后，她的继任者马克•赫德就让她前功尽弃。

    当前的经济不振，打印机销量的下滑对惠普而言可谓雪上加霜。惠特曼是努力想要重振旗鼓的，除了重新调整部门结构，她还要采取了更大胆的举措，努力消除公司的短板，集中自身优势。在上月举行的收入电话会议中，惠特曼着重指出，惠普在从个人电脑到打印机再到服务的核心市场上，面对重大变化反应迟缓。上周她又表示，“所有情况都已明朗”，而对即将开始大规模裁员的传闻，她并未试图澄清。

    过去七年间，惠普共有六任首席执行官（包括两位过渡性主管）先后掌舵。上周惠特曼度过了上任半年纪念日——正好是她的前任李•艾科卡任期的一半。而要让惠普走上复兴之路，即便是在最理想的环境下，也是一项需要花上数年才能见到成效的艰苦任务。目前惠普“摇钱树”近况不佳，要在这样的情况下开展这项工作只怕难上加难。

    译者：清远

    Small surprise, then, that Wall Street was hardly impressed by the move. Needham & Co. felt any gains would be "subtle" and slow to materialize. Morningstar found it sensible if "far from game-changing." Goldman Sachs found it "modestly negative" because the two divisions had few strategic gains.

    Most worrisome to some, was the retirement of Vyomesh Joshi, who led HP's printers during three successful decades but was retiring at the moment secular changes are hitting. Then there was this historical tidbit an Evercore Partners report titled "Making Changes that Don't Really Change Anything": In 2005, then-CEO Carly Fiorina combined PC and printer businesses too, only to see the work undone by her successor, Mark Hurd, six months later.

    The slowdown in printer sales is hitting HP at a tough time. Whitman is trying to do more than rearrange HP's deck chairs, she's trying to make bold moves to eliminate the company's weaknesses and focus on its strengths. In an earnings call last month, Whitman noted that HP had been slow to respond to fundamental change in its core markets – from PCs to printers to services. Last week, she said that "everything is on the table" in the reand did little to dispel reports that significant layoffs are coming.

    HP has been through six CEOs (including two interim chiefs) in the past seven years. Last week marked Whitman's six month anniversary on the job - half the tenure of her predecessor, Léo Apotheker. Reviving HP is a tough task that would take years under the best of circumstances. Doing it while the cash cow is ailing is going to make the task that much harder.