Sustainable Growth:

Institutional Excellence

Case Study:  The Hewlett-Packard Way

Sustaining Competitive Advantage by Managing Critical Opposites

Competitive Advantage

HP leaders have "an advantage that enables them to learn and adjust as few others can. The depth, breadth, and vitality that come alive daily through the firm's values –  the HP Way – are asset from which most of the Silicon Valley continues to learn. HP general managers regularly discuss and assess the vitality of the HP Way, a process, that inevitably results in corrective actions to ensure its continued viability."²

HP Values

Originally put in writing in 1989 by David Packard, HP values are the centerpiece of the Hewlett-Packard Way. "Hewlett-Packard's stated values are not uniquely different from most major companies. What makes the HP Way unique, though, is the seriousness with which values are treated as a management tool. They are not spread by sloganeering, but serve as criteria for daily decision-making and advancement. Brought to life as well as Hewlett-Packard does the HP Way, values based management lifts everyone above trivial concerns to focus on those that are truly important."²

Integrating Critical Opposites

To create an organization that could sustain its competitive advantage regardless of marketplace whims and what their competitors were building, HP founders based their corporate culture on the integration and reinforcement of critical opposites. This became known as the Hewlett-Packard Way. HP has achieved "what appears to be the greatest dichotomy: creating an environment that celebrates individualism, but at the same time one that is also wholly supportive of teamwork. Although HP people are taught to engage in cross-functional teams, they are also rated on the performance of decentralized business units and personal achievement."¹

Supporting Teamwork

"Interesting, when the Japanese look at HP, they say this is a Japanese company. This stems from the Japanese focus on teamwork and on forging a highly developed collaborative workplace. In an Asian environment, the group supercedes the individual."¹

HP environment is not a near clone of the Japanese-style teamwork, however. The company managed to avoid the traditional weaknesses of both American and Japanese companies that have allowed either individualism or consensus building to be taken to the extreme. HP excelled in managing dualities – specifically in creating a delicate balance between individual creativity and teamwork.

Developing Cross-functional Individuals

Most companies tend to recruit, train and promote people within functional corridors. But Hewlett-Packard (HP) breaks the walls, creating a carrier network that begins with the recruitment of diverse people in terms of their skills and personality and then promotes horizontally, as well as vertically throughout the company. "Typically, HP employees move through four to six functional areas in the course of their carriers. This creates broad knowledge of the company and fosters the kind of teamwork other companies covet".¹ When it comes time to promote, managers don't look who is next down the carrier line, they look for the best people. Neither employees should follow a pre-defined path to a particular post, nor need they to get a bigger title to be given new responsibility.

How To Break Down Barriers To Communication

There was a saying in Hewlett Packard: “If only HP knew what HP knows!” Very often the knowledge and skills needed to solve your problem exist elsewhere in the company. Knowledge sharing and collaboration are essential for innovation success... More