The following appears on greenbiz.com
A few years ago, Hewlett-Packard was top of top of mind when it came to sustainability leadership companies. Leveraging the environmental legacy of its founders, William Hewlett and David Packard, the company was an outspoken advocate for green product design, recycling and harnessing IT to create a better world.
And then it got quiet. For the past few years, we didn’t hear much from HP about environmental issues. It had bigger fish to fry. Between 2005 and 2011, for example, the company had six different CEOs. The markets for its key products — computers, printers and servers — became increasingly competitive, squeezing profit margins. The company, said analysts, had lost “the HP way,” the culture of teamwork, flexibility, innovation and integrity that had defined the company from its early days at the dawn of World War II.
The company is on more solid footing these days. Sales are back, management under Meg Whitman, HP’s president and CEO since September 2011, has stabilized. And the company — which this year celebrates its 75th birthday — is once again finding its voice in the world of sustainability. Indeed, sustainability has become part of HP’s growth strategy.
