Rumors HP is about to oust its chief executive have further damaged the firm, making its products and services an unsafe bet, Ovum research fellow Carter Lusher claims.
Lusher argues that reports Leo Apotheker is about to be replaced after only ten months on the job fuel a view of a company in disarray over its future strategy, and raise questions over the track record of its management board.
“Regardless of whether or not the rumor is correct…the damage has already been done,” Lusher states.
The “damage” he refers to is mostly to new contracts, with Lusher noting that customers are delaying signing contracts for HP products and services. While he notes savvy customers could leverage the confusion over the company’s future to negotiate preferential rates or other benefits, he advises anyone considering doing business with HP to include conditions that protect them in the event of a future break up of the firm.
Such a break up is more likely if Apotheker is fired, Lusher argues, as investors would seek to “unlock the value of the components,” that comprise the current business. Other executives are also likely to follow Apotheker out the door, with many “ready to leave or are already mentally out the door,” Lusher states.