Becoming Hewlett Packard
Why Strategic Leadership Matters
Robert A. Burgelman, Webb McKinney, and Philip E. Meza
Reviews and Awards
"McKinney, Meza, and Burgleman cite four key ways the company could have pulled off a softer, less humiliating landing. They amount to four big lessons for Silicon Valley today." --MIT Technology Review
"[A] unique perspective and a comprehensive insight into Hewlett Packard's iconic and perhaps inspirational impact on contemporary organizational leadership and strategic management...The book is an intriguing documentary on Hewlett Packard and its historical significance as much as it is also an important contribution to the management sciences literature. Drawing on the authors' in-depth knowledge of HP's strategic and leadership innovations, the book challenges traditional management and leadership principles and practices as it conceptualizes an inspiring, persuasive, and unique general strategic framework for organizational leadership and long-term sustainability." --CHOICE
"At a time where management studies are mainly fascinated by impressive short term venture success stories, this important book reminds us that the core identity of the firm is to become for the long term, an inspiring concept to enlighten the messy path and open-ended process of organizational transformation. Becoming Hewlett Packard is both a master piece of business history based on seventeen years of impressively well-executed research, and an inspiring strategy book to understand the role of CEO leadership in this corporate becoming phenomenon. A great book for those, student or professional, that will have to understand how to combine technology-driven entrepreneurship and business development strategy." -- Christophe Midler, Research Director at CRG (Management Research Center) and Innovation Management Professor at Ecole polytechnique
"Robert Burgelman's et al's Becoming Hewlett Packard is an important contribution to how the field and practicing managers understand organizational evolution. With extraordinary access to HP, Burgelman and his colleagues induce a provocative process theory of organizational becoming. This comprehensive book adds great insight to the literature on organizational evolution. Their insights on the role of senior leaders, the board, and the shifting nature of organizational identity are particularly important. This book will have an impact on both scholars as well as senior leaders." -- Michael L. Tushman, Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration Chair, Program for Leadership Development Harvard Business School
"This book provides a very rare longitudinal corporate history of a pioneering firm that has had a huge impact on the technology landscape. It is however much more than a rich analytical history of a long lasting enterprise. Robert and his colleagues, carefully distill key insights and build a robust conceptual framework that transcends HP and should be of interest to anyone interested in building a resilient enterprise." -- Ranjay Gulati, Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School