Case Study

On 2 March, 1999, Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced a plan to start a separate company, subsequently named Agilent Technologies, made up of HP's businesses in test and measurement, semiconductor products, healthcare solutions, chemical analysis, and the related portions of HP laboratories. In developing the transformation strategy, Agilent President and CEO, Ned Barnholt, grappled with how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the new company while still maintaining the best portions of HP's culture and practices. Barnholt adopted HP's values of innovation and contribution, trust and respect for individuals, and uncompromising integrity, but he added three new values: speed, focus, and accountability. Barnholt also wanted to improve the company's efficiency in terms of shared services. In mid-2001, the Agilent team faced a series of unexpected challenges. On 5 April, 2001, Barnholt announced that business conditions had worsened further than previously expected. Barnholt wondered whether he and his team had gone too far in the organizational and cultural changes they had tried to implement. He wondered whether his vision of speed, focus, and accountability would be compatible with HP's legacy values and culture, and if so, how would he integrate the two?

1. Section 1. Analyse the key challenges that the Agilent management team faces in launching the company. Based on the analysis, please evaluate Agilent's competitive position in that industry and/or segment.
2. Section 2. Identify a collaboration strategy (between HP's businesses and test measurement, semiconductor products, healthcare solutions, chemical analysis, and the related portions of HP laboratories) to develop Agilent's core technology (as outlined in Exihibit 1 of the PDF), and justify why the collaboration is important for Agilent's innovation strategy, particularly for patient monitoring as per the vision of the company "improving people's lives"

3. Section 3. Please critically evaluate Agilent innovation strategy from interdisciplinary perspectives. What challenges/opportunities does the company face from incorporating an interdisciplinary approach? Provide strategic advice to Barnholt and his team to achieve sustainable innovation success?