Hewlett Packard Barcelona Division (French Version)

The case briefly traces the history of the Barcelona Division of Hewlett-Packard from its inception in 1984, as a manufacturing unit producing under licence, to the present time, when it is a fully-fledged profit centre responsible for its own global marketing, production and distribution. The role and contribution of each of the general managers is discussed before the arrival of general manager Rich Raimondi. Raimondi is typical of many expatriate managers who arrive on assignments with minimal linguistic skills and on their first assignment in Europe. How he manages the division to become a business unit during his three year tenure is covered in the case through various observations of his management team. This case won an award in the European Foundation for Management Development Case Study Competition.