Carly Fiorina (Credit: The Hill)
Did she or didn’t she sell HP printers to Iran? It seems that now she is in the race to be the next President of the United States, every action of hers and the other candidates is under scrutiny.
Her tenure at HP was a challenging one, and if she sold laser printers to Iran, good for her: after all they are made by Canon, and if HP could buy from Canon and sell them at a profit in Iran, what’s the big deal? Will not having a laser printer on your desk really change the world? In the end Canon were the winners, no matter who sold the printers.
The real success of Carly at HP was that she boosted the printer channel with new models, and drove a success period for HP as a printer manufacturer. It was so good that even remanufacturers benefitted; as new models came out, remanufacturers captured market share for the older printers.
From where I sit, what did for HP was buying Compaq: a deal too big and a deal too expensive that HP still has the scars that will still transition through into the new HP Inc. But as long as they keep selling printers, we will find an edge to remanufacture the cartridges.
Will Carly be President – the voters will decide if she is canny enough, or they might just Trump her!