iLEAD was fortunate to have a chance to visit HP, which is the largest technology company in the world and the largest seller of PC and electronics. I feel that our visit to SV would not be complete without visiting HP, because HP is considered the founder of the Silicon Valley and its culture today. During the meeting, we were introduced to the director of international trade and relations, which is appropriate in my opinion as we international guests in HP. It is also good because the director would have the ability to answer questions pertaining to Singapore and Asia, which is more directly related to the iLEADers as compared to US issues.

During the discussion, many iLEADers asked questions which were on the sustainable competitiveness of HP and on its overseas expansion policies. In terms of connecting education and innovation in Singapore, HP has launched several innovation programs as well as technology transfers and licensing of ideas from universities.

Going green is also the latest fad in SV and HP is also doing its bit to save the environment. For example HP has this project to take back older products to be properly discarded so that they do not damage the environment. For new and upcoming products, HP designers do not only make sure the products look good but they must also be easily destroyed and not pose a great threat to nature when their products have reached the end of their life cycle. For a big company such as HP, it is a challenge to make the effort to go green.

Next we asked questions on how HP plans to continue the fight in the PC industry against competitors like Dell and Acer etc. To this, HP is certain that by competing not just on costs, but also on performance and design and features, its products would still be able to have a competitive advantage in the market.

One take home message that I think it is good for all of us is that in life, we should always take charge of how we want to live it fully. Do not just let nature take its course but be proactive in chasing your dreams. Only then would you find happiness (last sentence added by me)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 3:32 am and is filed under Hewlett-Packard. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.