Friday 19 November 2010

Staying in Moscow

 

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 the world held its breath. Millions of German soldiers crossed the border, and once again smashed whatever troops the enemy put up against them in a major demonstration of the new way of leading war. Blitzkrieg, they called it.

Soviet units fell one by one anywhere the Germans appeared. Encircled by the dozens, the Soviet divisions surrendered and marched to the POW (Prisoner of War) camps in the German rear, or were killed on the spot. The biggest Army by manpower, the red units lost men by the millions.

The Soviet High Command was a complete disaster. No coherent defensive strategy was in place. And worst of all, Stalin virtually disappeared. It seemed he did not want to face reality, the brutal German invasion. Lacking leadership, Soviet cities fell to the Germans, dashing like lightning towards Moscow.

Soon enough, the Soviet government withdrew eastward, beyond the Urals mountain range, in order to reset itself and try to resist somehow the monstrous German tide. All the cabinet fled. All but Stalin.

When Moscow was nearing the German assault, Stalin finally appeared, almost at the very last moment. He delivered to the people one of his propaganda masterpieces, setting the guidelines for Soviet resistance. He was there, he appeared in the very last moment, proved he had not given up, and Moscow did not fall. Probably the Soviet peoples will to resist and ultimately destroy Germany started there and then.

Quarterly financial numbers have a reasonably good expectation for HP. However, from a share perspective, the HP armies are still being beaten by the major cataclysm of Mark Hurd leaving the CEO job in early August.

While struggling in this entourage, HP’s strategy seems to be the very same one Hurd designed and left for his successor to inherit. And Wall Street is not buying it. The biggest army by revenue, its strategy to recover capitalization value was not there.

And its master leader, its CEO, has not publicly shown up three weeks after his official start date…

If History repeats itself, Léo Apotheker should pop up soon, and as the Soviet people did, the market will certainly need a propaganda masterpiece to spark recovery and confidence in putting HP where it should be from that very moment.

Show up before Moscow falls, Léo. The subpoena matter at the SAP trial is a smoke curtain. You can, you should, you ought to. 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment