惠普：抵住诱惑,梅格•惠特曼不宜兼任董事会主席

    现在，任命惠特曼兼任董事会主席，不论对惠普、董事会还是惠特曼自己来说，都将是一个巨大的错误。但惠普董事会很可能会犯这样的错误。虽然今年年初的股东投票材料中写道：“公司更倾向于董事会主席与CEO的职责分离的治理结构，因为这种结构将使公司CEO致力于商业策略与运营。”但文件下文却变得模棱两可。“这反映出董事会首选的是董事会主席与CEO职责分离这种治理结构，但在特殊情况下，未来董事会的领导结构可能发生变化。”

    惠普面临诸多挑战。《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal ）报道称，在六月底，惠普收购的Autonomy公司传来好消息，公司在三起股东诉讼中均已达成和解。但《华尔街日报》指出，监管调查仍在继续。对惠普来说，苹果与IBM最近达成的合作，只是它所面临的竞争中的一笔。

    惠特沃斯的公司Relational是惠普的主要股东。如果董事会足够聪明，应该考虑邀请Relational另外一位联合创始人贝奇德加入公司董事会，并在选出常驻主席之前，担任临时主席。与惠特沃斯一样，贝奇德也深受股东和董事会成员的尊敬。他能够稳定军心，帮助确保惠普找到合适的常驻董事会主席。

    而且，这种做法也可以给惠特曼更多时间，致力于履行惠普CEO的职责。我认为，她会充分利用这段宝贵的时间。

    本文作者爱丽诺•布洛斯罕是董事会咨询机构价值联盟和公司治理联盟（The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance，http://thevaluealliance.com）首席执行官。（财富中文网）

    翻译：刘进龙/汪皓

    Giving the chair role to Whitman now would be a big mistake for HP, the board, and Whitman herself. But it’s possible the board will make that mistake. While the shareholder voting materials earlier this year said that, “The Board’s preferred governance structure is to separate the roles of Chairman and CEO because it allows our CEO to focus primarily on our business strategy and operations,” later on, the same document equivocates. “This reflects the Board’s preferred governance structure of a separate Chairman and CEO, but the Board’s leadership structure may vary in the future as circumstances warrant.”

    HP has many challenges ahead. At the end of June, HP had good news on the Autonomy front when it reached settlements in three shareholder lawsuits, the Wall Street Journal reported. But, as the Journal pointed out, regulatory inquiries are ongoing. Apple’s AAPL -1.78% new partnership with IBM IBM 0.07% is just one example of a host of competitive struggles the company faces.

    Relational, Whitworth’s firm, has been a major owner in HP stock. If the board is smart, they will consider extending an offer to Dave Batchelder, Relational’s other co-founder, to join the board and take the interim chair spot until a permanent chair is selected. Batchelder, like Whitworth, is respected in both the shareholder and board member communities. He could stabilize the board and help ensure HP finds the right permanent chair.

    Such a move would also give Whitman more time to focus on her responsibilities as CEO of HP. I’m thinking she could use it.

    Eleanor Bloxham is CEO of The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance, a board education and advisory firm.