Introduction
The case of HP Kittyhawk 1.5 inch drive poses a managerial problem, which is rooted in technological risks and market uncertainties. While Bruce Spenner, the General Manager of Disk Memory Division (DMD) within HP had a visionary approach of developing a revolutionary product and the risk taking potential to drive a major success for his company, there were some problems in how the project was implemented and coordinated with the market needs.
Analysis
The enthusiasm did not lack Spenner and his team when they started working on a product that was meant to bring HP a 20% market share in the drive market (Christensen, 2006). Nevertheless, enthusiasm, along with the risk taking attitude was somehow uncontrolled in the case of Kittyhawk project. Spenner built his entire team with people committed to taking risks, infused by his vision and enthusiasm. In doing so, he ignored a major team building framework, which is Belbin’s team roles, designed for creating balanced teams that included: resource investigator, team worker, co-coordinator, plant, specialist, shaper, monitor evaluator, implementer, completer finisher (Belbin, 2010). While many of these roles might have been part of Spenner’s team, some of them seemed to lack the initial line-up. The monitor evaluator requires strategic abilities and also judgmental and overly critical, which is why they are often seen as dispassionate (Belbin, 2010). Yet, their role for the team is tremendous, as they can spot fable decisions or unsuccessful directions.
In Kittyhawk’s case, one major problem was that the team relied on a certain type of customer, having no guarantee that their vision will materialize. A solid monitor evaluator would have spotted this inconvenient, influencing the team to focus on another, more reliable market, or take other steps to achieve the 20% market share in the disk market.
Another challenge that Spenner and his team experienced when implementing the Kittyhawk was the fact that the competition was starting to increase, with potential clients becoming customers or requesting higher speed for a cheaper price, as it was the case of Nintendo in the examined material (Christensen, 2006). Such situation is best described through the shifting basis of the competition, which signals pressures from the client’s side, but also from the existent competitors (Abercombie, Keat & Whiteley, 1994).
Furthermore, in the drive to increase performances and grow market share, organizations, especially in the technological field, recognize changing dynamics of industry and related technologies (Capgemini, 2011). As it was the situation with Kittyhawk, HP changed the dynamics of the industry by focusing not on the mainstream market served by the 2.5 inch drive, but on a market that was not yet properly formed and stable, like the personal digital assistants (PDAs) segment (Christensen, 2006). HP actually experienced a problem caused by the changing nature of the industry and related technologies that affected its success, in its negotiations with Chicago Controls, which required Kittyhawk for integrating it in its PDA (pen based device) used to record and analyze statistics. The problem was that this PDA was using Microsoft Operating System. Initially, Microsoft’s drive requirements fit into HP’s Kittyhawk II capacity (set at 43 megabytes), but soon the computer giant announced that it would require more than 43 MB storage, making HP’s drive unsuitable (Christensen, 2006).
For identifying what Spenner could do in order to avoid the abandon of the project and the disbandment of the team, ideas might reveal by the application of the job to be done paradigm, or asking the question: “What was the product hired for”? (Christensen, Anthony, Berstell & Nitterhouse, 2007). The challenge with this paradigm is that Spenner needs to know his customers, to have clear segments that reveal their psychographics, psychological traits, etc. However, unlike a milkshake, the driver conceived by HP was not destined to individual purchaser, but to organizations and these indicators are more difficult to be established.
The point of asking the question What was this product hired for? is to understand the client’s motivation and need and make it higher, in order to purchase more. Through this approach it is pursued a market growth through market penetration strategy, according to Ansoff matrix (Gianos, 2012). From Christiansen (2006) case study, it is understood that Kittyhawk’s actual customers are different than the ones envisioned. Instead of players from the gaming sector, PDAs, printers, copiers, fax machines, etc., its customers were a word processing Japanese firm, PDAs, digital cameras, cash registers and telecommunication switching systems. These are clients activating in different industries from one another, hence they constitute different segments.
For increasing this market, the company would need to tap into clients’ needs by understanding what is the job that its products does for the clients and what it could do more. With the information gathered on what it could do more, HP Kittyhawk team could better its product and enhance its sells. On the other hand, Spenner team should take the same approach for the intended customers striving to make the product do the job the clients require.
With this approach in mind, Spenner should tap into the video gaming sector, because it has a huge absorption potential (selling 1.5 million pieces per day during the festive seasons) (Christiansen, 2006). In addition, video game industry also represents mature market with prospects of remaining stable, considering its sales. In this sense, HP should strive to reach a $50 price per unit for its Kittyhawk drive. It needs to apply new rules to shift the basis of the competition and improve its technology, while recovering its investment through innovation and also renouncing the piezoelectric accelerometer that protected against data loss and against shocks for reducing the costs (Capgemeni, 2011; Christensen, 2006).
Conclusion
HP case study reveals the importance of strategic management and the dangers of visionary leadership. While the envisioned prospects might be terrific, as it was the case of Kittyhawk, as it was meant to place HP in the top competitors of drive market, they might not materialize without an accurate evaluation and risk management approach.
References
Abercombie, N., Keat, R. & Whiteley, N. (1994) The authority of the consumer. London: Routledge.
Belbin, R.M. (2010) Team roles at work. Amsterdam and Boston: Elsevier.
Capgemeni (2011) The changing dynamics of the global high tech industry. Capgemeni.
Christensen, C.M. (2006) Hewlett-Packard: The flight of the Kittyhawk. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Christensen, C.M, Anthony, S.D., Berstell, G.N. & Nitterhouse, D. (2007) Finding the right job for your product. MIT Sloan Management Review. 48(3)
Gianos, J.F. (2013) A brief introduction to Ansoffian theory and optimal strategic performance – positioning matrix on small business. Journal of Management Research. 5(2): 107-118.
