Ten Years of Supply Chain Evolution at HP

Published 03 Jan 2005
Reference 5240
Topic Operations
Region Europe
Length 20 page(s)
Summary

This case describes ten years of supply chain evolution at Hewlett Packard's European Business Desktop division. It takes the perspective of Xavier de Montgros, Supply Chain Strategy Director PC Group of Hewlett Packard. It shows the evolution from a "Push" system to a "Pull" system, deals with outsourcing decisions, and considers HP's move to direct sales. The case ends with the evolving nature of the PC industry, illustrated by the recent sale of IBM's PC division to Lenovo. Xavier is considering how HP's supply chain can help HP to continue improving the profitability of its PC business.

Teaching objectives

Demonstrate the 4 P's of supply chains: 1. Planning: Push vs Pull 2. Postponement and flexibility 3. Partnering with suppiers and chaneel partners 4. Positioning and value capture. It also demonstrates the important point that managing supply chains deals with managing: 1. Physical flows. 2. Information flows. 3. Financial flows.

Keywords
  • RD0305
  • AR2005
  • AR0405
  • SUPPLY CHAIN
  • CLOCK SPEED
  • OPERATIONS
  • STRATEGY
  • INVENTORY
  • CHANNEL PARTNERS
  • SUPPLIERS
  • COMPUTERS