hp kittyhawk case study

• Harvard Business School →
• Faculty & Research →
• January 2006 (Revised October 2006)
• HBS Case Collection

Hewlett-Packard: The Flight of the Kittyhawk (A)

• Format: Print
• | Pages: 18

More from the Author

• December 2019
• Faculty Research

An Illustration of Resource Allocation in Strategy Making: The Case of Intel

• December 2019 (Revised November 2021)

Managing the Strategy Development Process: Deliberate vs. Emergent Strategy

• August 2019 (Revised December 2021)

Final Thoughts as You Seek to Build and Sustain Success

• An Illustration of Resource Allocation in Strategy Making: The Case of Intel  By: Clayton M. Christensen
• Managing the Strategy Development Process: Deliberate vs. Emergent Strategy  By: Clayton M. Christensen
• Final Thoughts as You Seek to Build and Sustain Success  By: Clayton M. Christensen

• ABOUT THE ARCHIVES
• HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS
• EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
• MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS & SALES
• LOOK INSIDE THE VAULT
• EXPLORE THE VAULT
• Home •
• HP’s Mobile Devices •

The Kittyhawk Hard Drive: A Small Wonder

At a time when disk drives were typically of significant size and weight, Hewlett-Packard’s Kittyhawk was designed to be small enough for personal devices like data assistants or gaming systems. It was produced in a 1.3” form factor — the first commercial drive to be that small — but also contained an impressive 20–40 MB of storage space and was sturdy enough to be dropped without breaking. The Kittyhawk wound up being too far ahead of the market to thrive commercially, but proved Hewlett-Packard’s technical prowess by pushing memory technology to new heights.

• Free Case Studies
• Business Essays

Write My Case Study

Buy Case Study

Case Study Help

• Case Study For Sale
• Case Study Service
• Hire Writer

HP Kittyhawk case study analysis

However, plans can never keep pace with changes. Kitty’s didn’t acquire the expected customer segments, which caused the dilemma. To analyze the internal and external situation of Kitty’s project, a SOOT analysis is conducted as follows: Strength High storage capacity Early to the market Access to best team members Well-established brand Image Emphasis on project parameters Strong support from top management HP culture Weakness High product cost and price Late to future storage requirements Fail to predict the market

Lack of agility and entrepreneurial Opportunity Access to unexpected customers Technology Improvements Make changes to meet potential customer Threat Well-established competitors Influence of other two technologies Difficulties of implementation Uncertainty of technology development Uncertainty of market needs From the external and internal analysis, it showed that Hewlett-Packard’s Kitty’s project had a great chance to succeed in the market, especially with plenty of strength.

We Will Write a Custom Case Study Specifically For You For Only $13.90/page!

In fact, In terms of an innovation, Kitty’s was very successful. The design on several prestigious technology and new-product awards for 1992, which got much attention from the market.

But to drive growth, Innovation also needs to be useful and successfully Implemented. So, did Skeletally achieve that? That’s the key to success. Differentiation Strategy Bruce Spanner made a wise decision to attack an entirely new market. If Hewlett- Packard choose to go for the traditional DAM market, the market share would probably remain the same.

Kitty’s can differentiated itself from other major players. Efficient Project Implementation Rick Seymour choose his teammates he believed can serve the project best.

He looked for risk taker and people who were quick thinking and action. In addition, Spanner laid emphasis on the project parameters a lot, especially in time and financial goals. They did everything they can to ensure that the team functioned well. Quite sensibly, Kitty’s team finished Kitty’s right on schedule with 12 months, which usually took 18 months.

Issues Lack of Research and Development At the beginning of Kitty’s, David Witt, the project’s R manager, required all engineers to sign a creed before Joining the team. “l am going to build a small, dumb, cheap disk drive!” With the limited time, the engineers was able to make a decent 1.3-inch drive, which is small enough. Besides, with high-volume MEMO, Kitty’s priced at around $250. Although it was said that $130 seems to be the cost lour of any fully featured disk drive, the price of Kitty’s was still in high-end product segment. The R department should put more effort on how to reduce the cost in order to make Kitty’s more competitive in the market.

Insufficient Market Forecast As an information technology corporation, Hewlett-Packard should be more sensitive and prudent to the newly emerged market. According to their forecast, Kittiwakes biggest customers could be PDA. But in reality, the PDA market never emerged as expected. Although several unexpected customers showed up, the actual production bevel was never as good as the original plan, showed in Exhibit 7. Kitty’s team should do more market research on the metallization of PDA market and what the future of PDA market is.

Also, it was risky to only focus on one potential market. It is important to decentralized risk by identifying more than potential customer segment. Future of Kitty’s There were three options ahead of Hewlett-Packard management. Otherwise, Kitty’s project should be closed. I firmly recommend Hewlett-Packard to abandon this project.

First, Hewlett-Packard was never a strong player in disk-drive industry. It as unwise to continue the project after two major failure, especially when the team was losing confidence.

Second, technology is changing rapidly. If Hewlett-Packard could not get the picture of disc-drive market clearly, any further options was going required Kitty’s team to have a significant design breakthrough to pull the cost down. Nevertheless, it could be achieved or not. A $50 drive Just met the current needs of certain customers, instead of the future demand.

Therefore, Hewlett- Packard should disband the team and put the resource into their strong products before it was too late.

Related posts:

• Case Study on Hewlett Packard
• Hewlett Packard case study
• Solar Marketing Plan Narrative Essay
• Netflix Case Study Online Free
• Case Study : Leadership Analysis
• Speech Analysis Online Free
• Pest and Swot Analysis Online Free

Quick Links

Privacy Policy

Terms and Conditions

Testimonials

Our Services

Case Study Writing Service

Case Studies For Sale

Our Company

Welcome to the world of case studies that can bring you high grades! Here, at ACaseStudy.com, we deliver professionally written papers, and the best grades for you from your professors are guaranteed!

[email protected] 804-506-0782 350 5th Ave, New York, NY 10118, USA

Acasestudy.com © 2007-2019 All rights reserved.

Hi! I'm Anna

Would you like to get a custom case study? How about receiving a customized one?

Haven't Found The Case Study You Want?

For Only $13.90/page

Product details

• Undergraduate
• High School
• Architecture
• American History
• Asian History
• Antique Literature
• American Literature
• Asian Literature
• Classic English Literature
• World Literature
• Creative Writing
• Linguistics
• Criminal Justice
• Legal Issues
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Political Science
• World Affairs
• African-American Studies
• East European Studies
• Latin-American Studies
• Native-American Studies
• West European Studies
• Family and Consumer Science
• Social Issues
• Women and Gender Studies
• Social Work
• Natural Sciences
• Pharmacology
• Earth science
• Agriculture
• Agricultural Studies
• Computer Science
• IT Management
• Mathematics
• Investments
• Engineering and Technology
• Engineering
• Aeronautics
• Medicine and Health
• Alternative Medicine
• Communications and Media
• Advertising
• Communication Strategies
• Public Relations
• Educational Theories
• Teacher's Career
• Chicago/Turabian
• Company Analysis
• Education Theories
• Shakespeare
• Canadian Studies
• Food Safety
• Relation of Global Warming and Extreme Weather Condition
• Movie Review
• Admission Essay
• Annotated Bibliography
• Application Essay
• Article Critique
• Article Review
• Article Writing
• Book Review
• Business Plan
• Business Proposal
• Capstone Project
• Cover Letter
• Creative Essay
• Dissertation
• Dissertation - Abstract
• Dissertation - Conclusion
• Dissertation - Discussion
• Dissertation - Hypothesis
• Dissertation - Introduction
• Dissertation - Literature
• Dissertation - Methodology
• Dissertation - Results
• GCSE Coursework
• Grant Proposal
• Marketing Plan
• Multiple Choice Quiz
• Personal Statement
• Power Point Presentation
• Power Point Presentation With Speaker Notes
• Questionnaire
• Reaction Paper
• Research Paper
• Research Proposal
• SWOT analysis
• Thesis Paper
• Online Quiz
• Literature Review
• Movie Analysis
• Statistics problem
• Math Problem
• All papers examples
• How It Works
• Money Back Policy
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• We Are Hiring

Hewlett Packard: The Flight of the Kittyhawk, Case Study Example

Pages: 3

Words: 961

Hire a Writer for Custom Case Study

Use 10% Off Discount: "custom10" in 1 Click 👇

You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work.

Introduction

The business culture among organizations at present is surrounded by the assumption of how competition could be faced by operators as they go head to head against international business organizations. The field of computer development has long been considered to be among the most productive business options taken into account by operators worldwide. Hewlett-Packard, one of the pioneer operators in the computer development industries, has been among the first producers of new add-ons to handheld devices that wee slowly making it into the market in the early 1900s. It was the year 1992 when HP was able to create a more definite sense of small but highly functional Microdrive that was specifically expected to be added into handheld devices created during the time. In the discussion that follows, the supposed failed attempt of the Kittyhawk’s release in the market shall be given attention to especially in relation to the failed sense of financing that they have embraced which was a little bit ambitious, if not impractical, for the project they were aiming to accomplish.

Business competition is a factor of organizational development that needs to be strongly given attention to by administrators especially for those that are engaged in international operations. Computer producing organizations are challenged to always rise to the demand of the market. For instance, as the increase of demand for handheld devices flood the market, the creation of highly functional computer add-ons to make such devices more functional also develops. It was the aim of HP administrators to find a more comprehensive possibility of engaging in such developments through making the most crucial add-on that would improve the function of available devises including those that are still under research and are still to be manufactured according to the availability of particular add-ons like that of a functional hard disk.

It was the problem of the handheld devices in the early 1900s that their point of functionality cannot be fully realized due to the unavailability of the needed capacity of hard drive that needs to be added into the system. The hard drive was first manufactured by Citizen Corporation which was noted in the past as one of the pioneers in manufacturing small devices. According to the first manufacturers, the one that they have created is one that is able to sustain a three foot drop and yet files are protected accordingly. It was sturdy and strong; and was rather practical for purpose it was made for.

The failure of the introduction of the product in the market is not because of its quality or its features. Instead, such failure was because of the fact that the said add-on to devices did not fit the planned for expansion on notebooks as they were being introduced to the market. In September 1994, the production of the Kittyhawk was finally discontinued because financing it seemed rather impractical for the organization already. Two years after the shut off in the production, there were at least 160,000 units sold compared to the supposed projected sales of 700,000 units. This caused a large account of loss for HP as it actually threw its investment to Citizen Corporation but did not get as much profit as hoped for.

In consideration with the assumption of better returns from investment HP decided to close the disk memory division completely. Somehow, the desire to create a more definite source of profit for the organization was hurt by the supposed ambitious desire of embracing a new sense of creating a device that did not fully meet up with the demands of the industry that the organization wanted to engage with. The innovation that HP took into account did not fit the demand of the market. They basically needed to realign their vision towards another path that would surely bring them better and more solid source of profit.

Recommendations

In relation to the case of HP and its untimely release of the Kittyhawk Microdrive, it was obvious that the organization took a lot of concern especially in determining the whole system of development that the company ought to consider in line with the industry it hopes to partner with. Although feasibility researches were already made beforehand the creation of the microdrive, it was obvious that making tight connection with partnering industries [who were likely to produce the handheld devices] was not strong enough to hold the production of the said item rather sufficient enough for the demand itself.

It was rather necessary for the organization to take on the consideration over determining the market demands at first and how the whole industry was taking on the challenge of responding to such demands. The rise of the demand for notebooks at the time made the microdrive production from HP rather untimely. This has caused the loss of several millions from massive production and lesser rate of sales than expected. For large companies like HP, closing down the production line seemed to be almost nothing. However, if precautions were held closely in a serious concern, perhaps these imbalances may have been avoided.

In facing new innovations especially in the computer industry, being precautious in research and feasibility studies is always a determinable factor that establishes the function of the new age development in the process of serving client demands. While failures are risks that ought to be fully accepted by the organizations, taking precautions would help to avoid great losses as did HP when it launched the Kittyhawk microdrive in an untimely situation in the market.

Christensen, C. (2006). Hewlett-Packard: The Flight of the Kittyhawk . Harvard Business School.

Sullivan, arthur; Steven M. Sheffrin (2003). Economics: Principles in action . Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458: Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 82.

FitzGerald, Valpy (2003). “ The Instability of the Emerging Market Assets Demand Schedule” . University of Connecticut:Department of Economics. Society for Economic Dynamics.

Stuck with your Case Study?

Get in touch with one of our experts for instant help!

5 Celebrity Endorsement Deals, Essay Example

Chaos and Order in Greek Literature, Essay Example

Time is precious

don’t waste it!

Plagiarism-free guarantee

Privacy guarantee

Secure checkout

Money back guarantee

Related Case Study Samples & Examples

R. v. labaye, case study example.

Words: 821

Employment Law/California Employment Law, Case Study Example

Pages: 6

Words: 1770

Travel Sawa Failure to Penetrate Egyptian Inbound Travel Market, Case Study Example

Pages: 8

Words: 2065

Severe Weather, Case Study Example

Pages: 16

Words: 4308

Boeing Company, Case Study Example

Pages: 7

Words: 1808

Property Matters, Case Study Example

Pages: 11

Words: 3048

Information Technology Management

Friday, july 24, 2009, hbr case study – hewlett-packard: the flight of the kittyhawk (a).

• The company had failed to recognize the new product as a disruptive innovation that was not ready to compete in the existing market
• The DMD picked the wrong target customers and built the wrong product because corporate expectations left no other choice
• The product could not storm any other emerging market in as short a period of time as was expected
• Positioning on the market was done not based on realistic market opportunities but by the company's aggressive revenue expectations
• Existing computing market trends were driven by capacity and cost per megabyte, not by size. Kittyhawk didn't offer any value for the established markets
• Even having a substantial opportunity in emerging markets, DMD attempted to please customers in established markets, where performance expectations were high. It included features that made Kittyhawk too expensive to satisfy customers in emerging markets.
• Attract and retain resources experienced in developing new architectures or cultivating emerging markets
• Take into consideration the history of HP's average cycle time for a new disk-drive development time of 18 months and align the project schedule accordingly
• Don't make a statement that this product will be the company's future
• Not try to analyze markets for this product. Markets did not exist yet
• Use in-house manufacturing to provide flexibility while market demand is formed and until the right product is developed.

wonderfull article on IT Managaement..good description ..looking forward for more on this. visit- www.scrumstudy.com

Where Kittyhawk Failed: The Case of Disruptive Technologies Case Study

Disruptive technologies have always been a very dubious concept, clearly promoting further evolution of technological thought, on the one hand, and blocking the development of the current technological advances, on the other side.

Perhaps, one of the most notorious cases of disruptive technologies affecting the current market and ruining the opportunities of promising technologies to be utilized in the corresponding field, the case of Kittyhawk deserves being analyzed.

Despite the fact that the introduction of the Kittyhawk technology was bound to reinvent the then perspective of what information storage is supposed to be like, it failed because of the wrong timing, the faults in marketing and the lack of competitiveness, which Nintendo made efficient use of.

However, the given failure does not diminish the merits of disruptive technology; instead, it shows that to introduce a technology that will shake the entire world, one will have to think not only the technical aspects of the on-coming revolution but also its economical and financial sides, keeping an eye on the competitors at the same time.

It would be wrong to claim that the concept of Kittyhawk did not have any intrinsic value; quite on the contrary, the idea of introducing a 1.3-inch hard drive to the target market was way ahead of its time and could have resulted in a major success (Christensen 606).

However, due to the faults in marketing, it became a giant flop, which the company swept under the rug as soon as the deal with Nintendo regarding its Nintendo 64 system with a slot for a 1.3” disk drive resulted in a financial discord. The very disruptive technology seemed to have had little to do with the given failure, though; instead, it can be seen as the result of the HP managers’ greed.

Unless the company had demanded so much to be invested into the Kittyhawk technology, the latter might have seen the light of the day. Instead, the HP Company clearly decided to use their innovation as the means to make as much money as possible before the Kittyhawk innovation would be ousted by a more promising and efficient method of data storage.

In hindsight, the HP Company should have tried positioning the Kittyhawk technology in a less pompous way, so that it would not flop even after new and better information storage system would be introduced into the market. Thus, the company would have retained their target audience and make at least some money out of their concept, which, instead, turned into a giant disappointment.

One of the most graphic cases when the attempt to introduce disruptive technologies ail, the example of the Kittyhawk data storage system developed by the HP provides a lot of food for thoughts, mainly concerning the factors that define the success of a disruptive technology.

The given case shows clearly that developing a unique concept is obviously not the only step that it required to promote the given technology as a disruptive one; in addition to the careful consideration of the existing market, its demands, customers and competitors, it is highly recommended that the financial aspect of the promotion campaign should also be introduced into the mix.

Despite having a number of chances to become one of the most efficient data storage systems, for the time being, the Kittyhawk Project plummeted as the HP Company failed to reach a compromise regarding the financial issue, therefore, making it clear that the art of creating disruptive technologies is more than being able to sell innovations.

Works Cited

Christensen, Clayton M. Hewlett-Packard: The Flight of the Kittyhawk (A) . Harvard, MA: Harvard Business School. 2006. Print.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, July 10). Where Kittyhawk Failed: The Case of Disruptive Technologies. https://ivypanda.com/essays/where-kittyhawk-failed-the-case-of-disruptive-technologies/

"Where Kittyhawk Failed: The Case of Disruptive Technologies." IvyPanda , 10 July 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/where-kittyhawk-failed-the-case-of-disruptive-technologies/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Where Kittyhawk Failed: The Case of Disruptive Technologies'. 10 July.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Where Kittyhawk Failed: The Case of Disruptive Technologies." July 10, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/where-kittyhawk-failed-the-case-of-disruptive-technologies/.

1. IvyPanda . "Where Kittyhawk Failed: The Case of Disruptive Technologies." July 10, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/where-kittyhawk-failed-the-case-of-disruptive-technologies/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Where Kittyhawk Failed: The Case of Disruptive Technologies." July 10, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/where-kittyhawk-failed-the-case-of-disruptive-technologies/.

• Nintendo Wii: Integrated Marketing Communications
• Nintendo Wii Product Launch-Related Challenges
• Nintendo Company in Japane
• Fair Trade US organization
• Significance of Social Media in Business Operations
• Peet’s Coffee and Tea Company Valuation
• Online Auction for Charity
• Evaluation of Walmart

Brought to you by:

Hewlett-Packard: The Flight of the Kittyhawk

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Gregory C. Rogers

Hewlett-Packard decided that, in order to grow more rapidly, it needed to design a revolutionary disk-drive product that would create an entirely new market or application for magnetic recording…

• Length: 18 page(s)
• Publication Date: Jan 2, 1997
• Discipline: Operations Management
• Product #: 697060-PDF-ENG

What's included:

• Teaching Note
• Educator Copy

This item is no longer available. Try our website search to find available products, or contact us for assistance.

• Included Materials

Hewlett-Packard decided that, in order to grow more rapidly, it needed to design a revolutionary disk-drive product that would create an entirely new market or application for magnetic recording technology. The company followed most of the "rules" good managers follow in such situations: heavyweight project team, lots of senior management support, etc. But it still failed. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Learning Objectives

This case helps students learn why good management isn't enough and how they should manage similar situations. Useful in courses on managing innovation or new product development, especially where the general manager's perspective is paramount.

Jan 2, 1997 (Revised: Mar 10, 2003)

Discipline:

Operations Management

Harvard Business School

697060-PDF-ENG

We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience, including personalizing content. Learn More . By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies and revised Privacy Policy .

• Order Status
• Testimonials
• What Makes Us Different

Hewlett-Packard: The Flight of the Kittyhawk (A) Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Home >> Harvard Case Study Analysis Solutions >> Hewlett-Packard: The Flight of the Kittyhawk (A)

Question 01: What mistakes did HP make in executing the Kittyhawk project? What did they do well?

The major mistake made by HP while executing Kittyhawk was that although the project had the approval of its most reliable and senior management, however some of the employees involved in the project were concerned over the reliability of the project. Along with this, the team felt that making an investment in a new market with small architecture has been conflicting with the overall needs of the division to stay in the competitive market.

Another major mistake with the launch of Kittyhawk was that in the competitive next generation higher gigabyte market, launching a tiny device without the market, whichwould be targeted was a loophole left open by the management.

The company was unsure of the market; therefore it decided to attract customers from different corners of the industry. Another mistake with the execution of Kittyhawk was that it lacked reliability. The product before being launched in the market was not tested; therefore, it lacked quality and completeness.

The thing, which HP performed well while executing Kittyhawk project was that the company and its management decided to cater and attract all the potential markets. While identifying the customer base and the target market, Kittyhawk attracted the gaming industry, the PDA market, fax machine market and the mobile gaming market. This was a major advantage, which led to the increase in customer base for Kittyhawk.

Along with this, another major advantage with the launch of Kittyhawk was that it was a nontraditional product. The product was an innovation, which involved latest technology. The company with the execution of Kittyhawk was also rather keen to sell it at a reasonable price.

Since the company targeted more than one market, therefore it had customers from different industries and all of them approached the management themselves based on the product attributes that were presented at different meetings by the management of the company.Therefore, it can be said that the product was a decent one, however, because of the unsure market, the product failed after being successful in the initialphase.

Question 02: What uncertainties did the team face? How did it attempt to resolve them?

The major uncertainty faced by the team working on Kittyhawk project was that since it was the first of its kind therefore, the management was unsure of the target market and the audience that needed to be catered in the initial phase. The element of uncertainty that was faced by the Kittyhawk team was that it had to decide the market, as it actually wanted to target in the initial phase since targeting more than one market was a difficult task.

The uncertainty was regarding the potential target market . In order toovercome this uncertainty,Kittyhawk narrowed down its strategy to two options, which were either to launch the disk drive focusing on the mobile computing market or to in fact launch it at such a low price that it could be used in all the applications where disk drives have been expensive.

Another uncertainty faced by the company while launching Kittyhawk was that the company was unsure or doubtful about the price that would be set in the initial phase. However, a unanimous price was set for Kittyhawk it was not the decision that the company took easily. In order to overcome the issue of the price for Kittyhawk, the company decided to make it a product that is priced between $50.

Along with this, since the product was a new entity, most of the rivals for Kittyhawk were competing in larger drives; HP decided to launch a small sized disk drive. This was the risk which the company took because being a player of an already developed market is an easy and convenient thing to do. Over here, the decision taken by the management to focus on a market that was unexplored was a definite risk.

However, in order to overcome this uncertainty, the company decided to carry out a research where it tried to find the possible attributes which the customers have been looking within the drive market. Moreover, the biggest achievement of Kittyhawk is that it created an entirely new market.

Question 03: Was this a tale of bad luck or poor judgment?

In the initial phase, Kittyhawk was an instant success, however, within the next two years; the product launched by HP was facing issues in meeting its sales targets. As the case states, the product was ideally placed, where the market research conducted by the management ensured the target audience that needed to be catered..........................

This is just a sample partial case solution. Please place the order on the website to order your own originally done case solution.

Related Case Solutions & Analyses:

Hire us for Originally Written Case Solution/ Analysis

Like us and get updates:.

Harvard Case Solutions

Search Case Solutions

• Accounting Case Solutions
• Auditing Case Studies
• Business Case Studies
• Economics Case Solutions
• Finance Case Studies Analysis
• Harvard Case Study Analysis Solutions
• Human Resource Cases
• Ivey Case Solutions
• Management Case Studies
• Marketing HBS Case Solutions
• Operations Management Case Studies
• Supply Chain Management Cases
• Taxation Case Studies

More From Harvard Case Study Analysis Solutions

• The Merger of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq (A): Strategy and Valuation
• Fresh Start: Perus Legacy of Debt and Default (A)
• Note on Process Analysis (Abridged)
• JAFCO American Ventures Inc.: Building a Venture Capital Firm
• Show Me the Money (B)

Contact us:

Check Order Status

How Does it Work?

Why TheCaseSolutions.com?