Hewlett-Packards Merced Division

PC computing was the center of computing during the 1990s, but the internet took over the next decade. Cellphones are sold more than PCs, and that is because they can access the Net. Network and communication became more important to people, whether it is in the home, small business or enterprise. Intel response to the changes in the environment by investing a lot of money in four areas, client platforms, server platforms, cellular and wireless, and communication and networking. Despite the fact that Intel took several steps toward making a position for it in the mobile and internet market, the threat of being behind

I will never see the day when there is not yet room for improvement. Through time, HP's focus on innovation had brought the world products such as the handheld calculator and the inkjet printer. In 1992, the company continued to invest heavily in technology, spending $1.6 billion or 10% of revenue on research and development. The high levels of investment have paid off. For three straight years, over half of HP's orders had been for products introduced within the last two years.

For years, AMD held the place of a distant follower of the large microprocessor market leader, Intel. Up to there, the competitor Intel led the market (with a “push” strategy) by creating consumer needs thanks to technological innovations. Those were linked with strong marketing campaign in order to facilitate a quicker adoption process of their new product line. However, in 2003, AMD change its traditional strategy to use a widely different one by switching into a blue ocean strategy. Indeed, AMD has changed course to become a “starter” firm. AMD has decided to launch at first its own brand server microprocessor range, called “Opteron” before one of Intel. At this moment, the firm made the decision to initiate the moves of server segment and therefore take heavier risks in term of investments, sales, pushing partners

The PCs became a commodity. Microsoft grew to be the leader in the operating system market continuing to develop their Windows GUI line. With Windows, software standards have been established allowing software developers to certify their products to meet Windows requirements and deliver controlled performance. In addition, the PCs allowed numerous hardware manufacturers to

After analyzing the Merced case, there are several routes the CEO could take regarding the direction of Hewlett-Packard’s Enterprise Systems Group (ESG). Ultimately, one of these solutions needs to be executed to ensure HP remains a leader in the enterprise server space. The problem with HP’s current (RISC-PA) processors is they are approaching the end of their technological relevance s-curve. Newer technology is rapidly gaining traction within the computing world and HP needs to find a way to participate in this movement.

Andy Grove and Intel faced two significant challenges that he successfully led his company to overcome by making two substantial organizational changes. Intel confronted extraordinary external competition in computer memory chips manufacturing. To save Intel, Andy Grove stopped manufacturing memory and focused on making microprocessor chips. Management and employees resisted this dramatic change, a change away from Intel’s legacy. Andy Grove and Intel leadership managed this change and led the company to new heights as a leader in microprocessor manufacturing (Krames, 2003).

• Open Architecture : OS – Microsoft, Microprocessor – Intel , reason, to encourage application developers and enhance Peripheral market

The industry in which Sun Microsystems is competing in is computer workstations for scientists, engineers, and commercial companies. Sun’s founder’s believed there was demand for a desktop computer workstation costing between $10,000 and $20,000 in a market niche, ignored by minicomputer makers such as, IBM, Data General, Dec, and Hewlett-Packard. Sun’s executives believed that they would only have a short time in this market before the other large companies decided to enter, because it was an exclusive market with a high entry barrier, but with opportunity for extensive profitability.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) was founded by William Hewlett and David Packard in a small garage in Palo Alto, California in 1939 and grew into a successful company that provided leading technological innovations. HP grew into a global, high-tech company specializing in developing and manufacturing information technology (IT) including personal computers, industry servers, storage devices, networking products, imaging and printing devices, and software. According to (Packard, 2006), When HP went public in 1957, Packard wrote down the management beliefs he and Hewlett shared, including a respect for and trust in employees, an environment that fostered creativity, and a flat management hierarchy (Packard, 2006). These ideals became known as the “HP Way” and served as a model

True to nearly any commoditized product, pricing and availability became the only two significant differentiators quickly as Intel increased

HP and IBM compete in many different Market: Enterprise Group, Enterprise services, Software, Financial Service. They emphasize their converged infrastructure platform and range of services. In addition to such tactical solutions and services, IBM offers its strategic vision encouraging customers to consider the long term impact of today’s cloud decisions. Supporting this, IBM actively works to reduce customers’ long term risks.

The company strategy level of HP gives the notion to be Cost Leadership. It is evident from the news that at a greater extent consumers of computer manufacturers like International Business Machines (IBM) and sun are switching to HP since as the near to the ground cost of possession and flexibility. For Example, HP’s “slate table” is the illustration of its cost leadership approach that provides competition to the Apple’s IPad that proves to be more costly than reported cost of HP’s slate tablet ($549).

Cost of hardware: The relative cost of software versus hardware has changed substantially over the last 50 years. When mainframes were expensive and required large support staffs, the few organizations buying them also had the resources to fund large, expensive custom software engineering projects. Computers are now much more numerous and much more powerful, which has several effects on software. The larger market can support large projects to create commercial off the shelf software, as done by companies such as Microsoft. The cheap machines allow each programmer to have a terminal capable of fairly rapid compilation. The programs in question can use techniques such as garbage collection, which make them easier and faster for the programmer to write. On the other hand, many fewer organizations are interested in employing programmers for large custom software projects, instead using commercial off the shelf software as much as possible.

Compaq and Dell stole IBM’s PC market with the right price and the right message.

The rapid pace of change in the technology industry also brought hyper- competitive pressures in Intel’s markets. They withdrew from the production of network servers when they had to compete with Cisco, a major client in the chip market. Moreover, other rival Advanced Micro devices had produced its Athlon processor chip, which turned out faster than Intel chip.