Compaq to run new HP in Asia
Published: 04 Apr 2002 11:56 BST
Paul Chan will head Hewlett-Packard in Asia-Pacific should its merger with Compaq Computer succeed.
Chan will assume the role of regional general manager for HP, with the additional responsibility of running the company's enterprise business in the region. He will report to Peter Blackmore, executive vice president for the Enterprise Systems Group.
The 48-year-old Chan is currently Compaq Asia-Pacific vice president and managing director. Siaou-Sze Lien, his counterpart at HP, will move to a separate division.
Lien, 54, will manage the services unit in Asia-Pacific and report to Ann Livermore, HP Services executive vice president.
A Compaq Asia-Pacific spokesperson confirmed the appointments, saying that further details will be provided at a later date. "We look forward to announcing the country management in the next few weeks prior to the launch (of the new entity)," he told CNET Asia.
"I am not too surprised by this result. Paul Chan has done a very good job for the past few years," said Kitty Fok, IDC Asia-Pacific research director for Personal Systems.
In the first half of 2001, Compaq recorded revenues of $5.4bn in Asia-Pacific compared with HP's $3.6bn.
Prior to joining Compaq in 1995, Chan spent 17 years with HP where he held a number of senior management positions. Lien, also a HP veteran, began her career with the company in 1978 as a systems engineer.
Earlier on Thursday, HP named 150 post-merger senior executives for its global operations.
Carleton Fiorina, the chairman and chief executive of HP, will become the new company's chairman and chief executive, while Compaq chairman and chief executive Michael Capellas will become president of the new entity.
The combined companies will be organised around four operating units. An imaging and printing group led by Vyomesh Joshi, now president of imaging and printing systems for HP; a personal systems group led by Duane Zitzner, now president of computing systems for HP; Blackmore's enterprise division and Livermore's services business.
The imaging and printing, and personal systems divisions for Asia-Pacific will be managed by HP's Michael Hoffman and Adrian Koch, respectively.
Revenue and market share were determining factors for the selection of the executives and product lines. "There are overlaps in industry standard servers, PCs and Unix servers. We will be adopting the more successful product set," Jeff Clarke, Compaq CFO and co-chair of the integration team told CNET News.com last week.
Frustrated lot, new structure
Compaq shareholders have approved the acquistion but the final results could take several weeks as HP votes are tabulated.
Understandably, employees from both sides are getting increasingly agitated and frustrated. "I feel trapped," said one HP sales executive based in Kuala Lumpur. "They (management) tell us it's business as usual and Compaq is still a competitor but how can we concentrate with all this uncertainty?"
He said most customers are adopting a "wait-and-see" attitude where "they tell us to wait but (go) see our competitors instead."
In Malaysia, HP and Compaq have approximately 300 employees each. HP's management team will meet Kuala Lumpur-based employees at 11am on Friday to explain the regional executive appointments and the company's next course of action.
Compaq's operations in the region comprises three segments: Asia-Pacific led by Chan; Greater China headed by Philip Yu; while Hajime Takayanagi manages its Japan unit. For HP, the entire region is solely under the helm of Lien.
With the new organisation, Japan will operate as a separate entity. Co-chaired by Compaq's Takayanagi and Masao Terazawa of HP, both executives will share the additional duty of managing the company's enterprise business in Japan.
HP is regionally headquartered in Hong Kong although most of its management team, including Lien, is based in the Republic. For Compaq, Asia-Pacific is run out of Singapore, and according to the Compaq spokesperson, the island-state will be used as HP's Asia-Pacific base.
In the coming weeks, both companies are expected to detail which employees will stay following the merger. Sources said most Asia-Pacific-level announcements are expected this week, followed by the various country managers.
The next hot seat is Southeast Asia with current contenders, Tan Choon Seng, Compaq vice president and managing director, and Chia Wee Boon, HP managing director, vying for that spot.
Both companies have said they plan to cut, on a global basis, 15,000 jobs shortly after the deal is completed. HP has 14,000 employees in Asia-Pacific against Compaq's 5,000-odd.
HP has manufacturing plants in Singapore, Japan and China, while Compaq has similar facilities in Australia, India and the Republic.
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