Being Bigger isn’t Necessarily Considered Better

The firm, which famously started life in 1939, has now declared a new age: that of smaller start-up. By 2014, when Ms Whitman announced HP’s decision to separate its computer and printer business from its corporate hardware and services operations, the company had grown into a clumsy _________. Its fortunes started to _________ with a series of expensive and much criticized purchases. By 2012 it had lost its position as the world’s leading supplier of PCs to Lenovo. The dramatic _________ was aimed at helping the firm adapt to the new age of mobile and online computing, responding to shareholder demands for more aggressive _________.

“I would go from laser jet printing to our big enterprise services contracts where we were running the back end of IT for many big companies and organizations. These two things are not like each other. So the ability to focus and engage with customers on a(n) _________ set of objectives and business outcomes... I can already see the difference.” Ms Whitmann, who now heads the new spin-off, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) selling servers and services, says the change has already _________ her performance. “One big change is it _________ each of the divisions to pursue the strategy that is right for them. _________, there is ‘no way’ printer and PC company HP Inc’s decision last year to buy Samsung’s printing business for $1bn would have happened when it was part of the larger firm. So it’s that ability to drive your own program, not _________ by other businesses that don’t have the same characteristics.” Ms Whitman is so convinced her strategy is working that she’s ______________ HPE further, spinning off both its business services division and its software business into separate companies last year.

Her assumption that bigger doesn’t always mean better seems ______________. After all, a larger company should find it easier to dominate the market it operates in. But the rapid rise of much smaller start-ups, competing and often overtaking these established powerful companies means the accepted wisdom that ______________ equals success is being challenged. ______________ in 2014, eBay carved PayPal, the electronic payments arm it bought in 2001, off from the main online sale business.

Box, a cloud storage company, is another case in point. Founder Aaron Levie says “Whether Uber, Airbnb, those same lessons ______________, which is if you can build something that’s cheaper, faster and more scalable and delivers a far better customer experience than what the traditional sellers were able to do, then you can be extremely ______________.”