Reprinted from HP New England Highlights

Steve Smith, director of Division Development for HP Customer Support, helps business units in emerging countries achieve their financial objectives with acquisitions, divestments, external investments and alliances. Currently, Smith's primary focus is acquisitions. "The Customer Support strategy is to use corporate acquisitions to achieve growth and capability extension," Smith explains. "We're the ones Customer Support businesses come to when they want to expand, achieve critical mass, or gain expertise through non-organic means. This strategy enables HP to deliver consistent high-quality services to multi-national enterprise customers and is often a key differentiator in competitive situations."

Smith says that he enjoys the international scope of his work because it gives him an opportunity to interface with a variety of people and cultures within and outside HP. He gets satisfaction helping local teams move forward and achieve their goals. "We can help business units in different countries increase their profitable revenue stream by targeting large companies for acquisition," says Smith.

While there are many complex aspects to this type of work, the biggest challenge is to craft solutions that bring wins to both the buyers and sellers. "HP searches for the best candidates to meet strategic objectives, and quite often, those companies are not for sale," says Smith. "Finding a way to understand and encourage motivation factors for sellers requires creativity."

Smith considers four elements to be the key components for a successful acquisition: execution of strategy, financial return, and retention of customers and employees. An acquisition qualifies as a solid win when 80 percent or more of these elements are achieved.

Three successful acquisitions were recently completed. They include FH Computer Services Limited, a United Kingdom services company specializing in software and asset management. This acquisition will enable HP to grow the suite of software licensing and management solutions within Customer Services. The other two new acquisitions are ManageOne and CEC Europe Service Management Limited. These companies will strengthen the HP Adaptive Enterprise Strategy because their core business is centered on Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) and Information Technology Service Management (ITSM).

Smith is a native New Englander and has a B.A. in economics from Harvard College and an M.B.A. in international business from Boston University. He has worked for HP via Digital and Compaq for 31 years. He and his wife Susan are active in church activities and will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary this year. They have two married children and one grandchild. Smith's favorite recreational activities include skiing, hiking and trail management. He enjoys keeping the Massachusetts section of the Appalachian Trail in good shape for hikers.