HP Stakeholder Analysis Case Study Hewlett Packard (HP) is a multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA. It developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components as well as software and related services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health and education sectors. HP mainly relies on revenue from its printing hardware, financial investments, investments in small and medium enterprises and internet solutions for its maintenance. The political analysis of HP Enterprise pertaining to government controls and rules in the effort of HP to keep up with the Environmental and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Codes and in terms of decency, quality and environmental concerns. The company has the local US consumer base well captured but it seems that there is very little to be done here in terms of attracting the upcoming young generation of IT zealot, and unless there is a stress upon updating the models of its hardware for printing and PCs to catch up with the hype created by HP and Intel who unveil new models almost every other month. HP went cyber almost a decade ago, which is fairly recent in comparison to its 70 year long market presence (HP, 2009). In fact the turning point of HPs luck came in 1998 when HPs corporate software and support division and corporate systems division was amalgamated and Ann Livermore took over to run this new Enterprise Computing Solutions Organisation (ECSO), with an investment of $15 billion and an employee base of 44,000 employees (Moore and Snyder, 2000). HPs operations are subject to regulations under federal, state, local and foreign laws concerning the environment, including laws addressing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, and the cleanup of contaminated sites. HP operations also ensure continuous interest representation of local communities it affects, and this is achieved through continuous CSR initiatives. Resources: HP has 324,600 employees worldwide while servicing more than one billion customers in 170 countries on six continents (HP annual report, 2010). It has three main business divisions namely: HP Enterprise Business is the largest business segment of HP accounting for 36% of HPs 2007 revenue, providing servers, storage, software and information technology services that enable enterprise and midmarket business customers to manage their current IT environments and transform them into a business enabler. HP Enterprise Business has three sub-divisions namely HP Personal Systems Group, HP Imaging and Printing Group and HP Financial Services. HP Labs is the exploratory and advanced research group for HP with some 600 researchers in seven locations throughout the world. HP Software Division is the Enterprise software division of information technology company. From September 2005 through 2010, HP purchased a total of 15 software companies as part of a publicized, deliberate strategy to augment its software offerings for large business customers (HP, 2010). HP also has subsidiaries namely, 3Com, 3PAR, Compaq, Palm, Inc, ProCurve, Snapfish and VoodooPC. Shareholders exercise their ultimate control over HP and how it is managed, for example, having a say on how the management is paid. Recently, (March, 2011), investors expressed how unhappy they were on pay packages for top managers , saying they are paid a lot of money and claiming its a waste. By voting against these pay packages, the board approved the change (Inquirer, March 2011). Managers are key players in the sense that for any company to succeed, it needs management that is driven and ambitious. In 2007, HP produced a report called The Seven Habits of Ambitious Companies, briefly laying down that its managers have big ideas, stay focused, build momentum, put people first, encourage communication, manage innovation and listen to their conscience (HP, 2007). With all these habits, the company is bound to thrive for the best and stay at the top. Employees are equally important as they are integral to the success of the business. The talent, expertise and skills of employees drives everything from how HP innovates its products and manage its supply chain to how they connect with customers and collaborate with partners (HP, 2010). Consumers may, for example, exert pressure on sales managers to represent their interests within the company, so in a way they can also be regarded as key. The three dominant producers (competitors) in the PC industry are HP, Dell and IBM. HP has always been a leader in this industry and in all aspects of technology. Through its merger with Compaq, HP has created an even bigger market share to compete with Dells PC division. Rivalry is high. For instance, price, when one company acts to protect its position by lowering the price of PCs, it will affect other companies. This means all other firms may want to lower their price in order to attract the customers. There is also decreasing profitability. Since the firms sell their PCs in a low price, they will make less profit. This is the one strategy that makes communication among these top three industry dominants. Questions: 1. A stakeholder analysis is one of the vital processes undertaken regularly by organizations, Discuss in detail what this process means, the need for this process and why it is such a vital process for organizations. (15 Marks) 2. Develop for stakeholder matrix for HP, showing clearly all the represented stakeholders from the case above. (10 Marks) 3. Using the four processes of the stakeholder analysis process, Develop a complete stakeholder analysis report for HP. (25 Marks