Backfire: Carly Fiorina's High-Stakes Battle for the Soul of Hewlett-Packard

Rating:
Summary: Burrows Gets it Right
Review: This is a great book and an easy read. Burrows makes you feel like he is sitting across from you as he discusses the merger, the HP Way, Carly and Walter Hewlett's motivations. He clearly brings recognition to the HP Way and how it made HP a great company, and the dangers involved in destroying HP's identity by merging with Compaq. Why would a company with a suffering PC division want to buy a PC giant that was suffering even more, in a market where consumers have stopped buying PC's? "Two garbage trucks colliding". And yet Burrows gives credence to Carly's abilities and talent and clearly offers both sides of the story.

The best part of this book is the general business understanding it offers of mergers gone wrong. This is a prime example and well portrayed.