经济学人下载:惠普的远见 效仿IBM

Such a platform would allow firms to do some nifty things. A retailer, for instance, might decide how much beer to stock based not just on previous sales records, but also on weather forecasts, party chatter on social media and schedules for sports matches.

这样一个平台能让公司更加出色地完成想做的事，比如一个零售商，在决定啤酒的库存量时，可能不仅要参照它的前期记录，也要考虑未来的天气情况、社会传媒的聚会谈话以及体育比赛的日程安排。

All this sounds sensible. But establishing a new platform and ultimately becoming a firm that looks much like IBM is a tall order. Many other firms are also jostling to become the main interpreter of corporate data. To reach its goal of having software generate 8-9% of its revenues by 2015, up from less than 3% today, HP will probably have to make further acquisitions. And its services business is mainly about keeping IT systems running, not about helping firms reinvent themselves (as IBM does).

这些说起来简单，但要建立一个新的平台并最终成为一家类似IBM的公司并不容易。许多IT公司在企业数据处理方面展开了竞争。为了将其软件收入由现在的3%提高到2015年的8-9%，惠普也许还要收购更多的公司。另外，惠普的服务业务主要是保持IT系统的运行，而不是（像IBM那样）帮助公司完成自我再造。

Given the difficulties, it is not surprising that many shareholders have bolted. But HP and its new boss should not be faulted for trying. They have little alternative, if they wish to avoid becoming a collection of commodity businesses. “Technology is a brutal business,” says Mr Apotheker. “If you don’t innovate and reinvent yourself, you will become obsolete.”

困难如此之多，许多投资者溜之大吉也就不足为怪。但惠普及其新总裁这样努力并没有过错。要想不再成为一个计算机商品大卖场，他们别无选择。阿普赛克先生表示：“技术行业竞争非常残酷，如果你不创新，不能完成自我再造，就只能被淘汰。”