globeandmail.com, By SHAWN MCCARTHY

A year after Fiorina's exit, Hurd makes his mark at HP

CF

• Reputation: Celebrity female CEO
  
• Leadership style: Jetsetter; bought two Gulfstream corporate jets while the company was in the midst of layoffs
  
• Accolades: Fortune magazine's most powerful woman in business six years running.
  

MH

• Reputation: Boring operations guy
  
• Leadership style: Laser-like focus on execution; announced 15,500 in job cuts at HP within months of taking over.
  
• Accolades: Investors sold off NCR shares, sending them 12.7 per cent lower, on news he was leaving the company.
  

After the splashy appearances of his high-profile predecessor Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive officer Mark Hurd created his own buzz at last month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas -- by not showing up.

The message couldn't have been clearer.

After six years with a celebrity CEO at the helm, Hewlett-Packard is now in the hands of a no-frills executive, who focuses like a laser on executing the company's business plan in a challenging, rapidly changing technology market.

Last year, Ms. Fiorina, flanked by stars Matt Damon and Gwen Stefani, had dazzled the gadget-happy conference by pledging to plow ahead with production of a digital entertainment hub that would merge the functions of a television, personal computer, stereo and other entertainment devices.

Five weeks later, a year ago tomorrow, the HP board ousted her amid a noisy campaign from investors who were unhappy with HP's erratic earnings performance and underperforming stock.

Mr. Hurd, who came to HP 10 months ago after turning around NCR Corp., is already winning kudos from Wall Street, in spite of some nagging concerns about the growth trajectory that he has outlined for the company.

He has not ushered in a startling new strategic vision, or spun off the personal computer division as some analysts had urged. But he has provided a sense of operational competence that critics -- and ultimately the board -- felt was missing in Ms. Fiorina.

'Carly knew where she was going; she didn't know how to get there,' said Rob Enderle, an industry analyst and consultant.

"Because they now have an executive that knows where he is going and how to get there, morale is up; HP is better able to execute, and the analysts are much more comfortable because it doesn't sound like somebody is trying to pull the wool over their eyes."

Critics argue that Ms. Fiorina had fumbled the $25-billion (U.S.) acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. by failing to manage the integration of the two giants.

In his first year on the job, Mr. Hurd has launched a restructuring program that will eliminate 15,300 jobs and shave $2-billion in costs by 2007, reorganized the operating divisions to give more authority and responsibility to managers, and begun the mammoth task of retooling HP's own information technology to drive down costs, improve its functioning and make it a showcase for HP products and services.

He has also cancelled some of the higher-profile, lower-return ventures approved by Ms. Fiorina, including a digital entertainment hub that she unveiled at last year's Consumer Electronic Show and a project to marry HP technology with Apple Computer Inc.'s wildly successful iPod.

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