The Case for Breaking up HP. Part III
Twice, in September this year, we called for the orderly break up of HP. This was for the historic reasons of board delinquency, lack of strategy etc. HP is both a product company and a services company. With Meg Whitman’s appointment as the new CEO, we thought that she should at least be given the [...]
Read the rest of this entryLogica the dejected bridesmaid
Only 42 days ago the broadsheet headlines were that Logica’s poor performance would lead to yet another takeover bid, well actually speculation about a speculative bid. Under our own headline of “Always the Bridesmaid never the Acquisition” we said that it would not happen. It has not. We refuted Logica’s statements of slowdown’s in the [...]
Read the rest of this entryEnd this conflict of Interest. Break up KPMG et al
When Arthur Andersen failed in 2002, the Big Five audit practices become the Big Four – KPMG, PwC, Ernst & Young and Deloitte. But these audit practices also had consultancy offerings, in audit parlance, “professional services” arms. Strict rules apply to conflicts of interest, and for very sound reasons. As a consequence, during 2002 it [...]
Read the rest of this entryMutualisation: the evolution revolution begins for Outsourcing
Speak to any senior government official and the word “Mutualisation” will not be far away from entering the discussion. Yet in the conventional press there has been little or no acknowledgement of the quite revolution that the coalition government has begun. So what is Mutualisation? Well conventionally it is “The setting up or reorganisation of [...]
Read the rest of this entryDiligenta’s record deal with Friends Life is flawed
The announcement that TCS’ UK insurance and pension arm, Diligenta, has secured £1.3Bn over 15 years should be seen in context. The market marked TCS stock up only 1.8% on the day. This is wise and proportionate to the importance of the deal. Diligenta will administer 3.2 million policies for Friends Life bringing them to [...]
Read the rest of this entryLogica – Always the bridesmaid never the acquisition
Poor results dropped Logica’s share price by 9% and then once the market’s really got to grips with the cited problems it dropped again, wiping 15% off the stock. Inevitably the City analysts and journalists hawk out the same old “Logica subject to take-over” story. If you hold your breath and believe for long enough… [...]
Read the rest of this entryIs Outsourcing dying on its feet or merely adapting to undemanding clients?
[Part 1 - A multi-part investigation and commentary] What is going on with the outsourcing industry? Large or mega deals have all but disappeared, the deals being signed are small, shorter and less complex than three to five years ago. Yet when viewing the service providers published annual or interim results, turnover ranges from mediocre, [...]
Read the rest of this entryDisruptive Technologies? For how long has Kodak been brain dead?
I wrote my first piece on Kodak exactly 35 years ago this month. At the time my research note was extremely negative and I compared Kodak to horse driven coach drivers refusing to see that trains and cars would kill their business. During the period Kodak has been consistently late in adopting new technologies at [...]
Read the rest of this entryQuarterly Update on India – Poor leadership and shrinking Outsourcing opportunities
If history teaches us anything it is that great leaders grab opportunities to reform and reposition nations to make full use of fleeting opportunities in a world of accelerating change. So too leaders and captains of industry, where they have advantages, must work relentlessly to capitalise, reposition and innovate ahead of the competition to retain, [...]
Read the rest of this entryHP – the case for break up. Part II
All change at HP. Former HP director Thomas Perkin has spoken out describing that the HP executive as “the worst board in the history of business”. He cited the fact that in spite of the Mark Hurd debacle “when the committee finally chose Mr Apotheker, and again suggested that other directors meet him, none did… [...]
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