Generally speaking, I think this book is not bad. Comparing some similar books(I mean about company introduction ) but written by non-company people, this book, written by one of the corporation founders, indeed tells more about the company history and culture. (You know that some writers write stories that they do not really understand. Some writers who know the stories may not draw the whole pictures for readers. )

David tells his exciting childhood and good education background. He is a good athlete in Stanford, he meet a great teacher who gives them lots help and supports. And he gets to know Bill, whom he shares a lifelong friendship and business partnership with.

David did not run his own company after his graduation. Instead, he worked for GE and other places and learnt some management skills, and one of them is called “management by walking(MBO)” from GE experience. More importantly, he got acquaintance with some new friends. When the time is right, Bill and David begin to start their own company. I guess why the company name is HP rather than PH--decided by a coin toss. Very interesting, HP firstly makes and sells “audio oscillator”. It sounds strange, but with more background of their time, it is easy to comprehend.

There is a good sentence in it: more businesses die from indigestion than starvation.

If you are interested in knowing what problems will emerge when a small company grows, you can read it and catch a glimpse of them.

If you want to know more details, you just run a real company. Book does not tell everything.

HP`s grow is to some extent, largely contributed by the cooperation with US Army. Bill was once called into the service, as well as David in later years serving for the DOD. Can you imagine that if David Packard manager the Pentagon in HP way? Because of David`s service in 1970s, when US government visit China, they introduces HP to China.

I like Packard`s way of expression. If you are going to say you want profit, you can say that “profit is the best single measure of our contribution to society and the ultimate source of our corporate strength”

More stories about the printer

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