Creating and Spreading New Knowledge at Hewlett-Packard

This is a case about organizational architecture impacting the diffusion of process technologies. The objective is to help students to devise ways to lessen the impact on the organizational benefits of the multidivisional corporation under the context of knowledge creation and transfer.

1) Organizational architecture matters: how you organize dramatically impacts your approach to innovation. 2) If possible, combine creating and diffusing knowledge as embodied in best practices. 3) It is extraordinarily difficult to find the right balance between fostering autonomous behaviour on the part of the divisions, and the need to build a coherent overall corporate strategy through directed action. Getting it wrong could jeopardize the survival of the firm. One can use creative organizational design to minimize the tradeoffs.