HP Shakes Up Managers, Aims At India, China

Hewlett-Packard Co moved a veteran executive onto its board and announced the departure of two senior officers in a major ongoing management shake-up, and put new focus on China and India. Chief Executive Leo Apotheker, who took over at the world’s No. 1 computer maker in September, is under pressure to turn around HP, which is struggling to hold onto its place in the technology sector. It trimmed its sales forecast for the second straight quarter last month.

Ann Livermore, who runs HP’s enterprise business, has been appointed to the HP board and will step down from her day-to-day management of the division, the company said. All customer-facing units- including software, sales, servers and storage now report directly to Apotheker. Apotheker is also fortifying efforts to improve market share in China and India, regions seen as “critical” for success. Todd Bradley, who leads HP’s Personal Systems Group, will also focus on expanding the company’s share in China, while Vyomesh Joshi, who leads the Imaging and Printing Group, will lead similar efforts in India.

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Livermore, a 29-year veteran at HP, recently had her job split when Apotheker decided to revamp the troubled services division and have the unit report directly to him. Livermore was made the interim head while HP searches for a new executive to lead it. The world’s largest technology company by sales is grappling with new competition from Cisco Systems Inc to Oracle Corp, limp consumer spending on personal computers and a potentially costly expansion into cloud computing. Apotheker, outlining his vision in March, promised to boost earnings and dividends sharply by pushing into sectors such as cloud computing, where services are hosted from datacentres.

HP is seeing a lot of churn as Apotheker brings in new executives and tries to revamp the company and move into new markets, including tablet computers. Among the latest to leave the company are Pete Bocian, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, and Randy Mott, executive vice president and chief information officer. HP is eliminating the chief administrative officer role, but is looking to replace Mott, the company said. Others who have left recently include Tom Iannotti, who ran the enterprise services business, and former head of networking unit Marius Haas.