HP And Snapfish

4 Pages 1108 Words

Critical Thinking
Hewlett Packard & Snapfish


Summary
Hewlett Packard has announced on Monday, March 21, 2005, that it is acquiring Snapfish, an Internet photo one stop shop. There is a large growing market of online photo service and management, and Hewlett Packard has decided to penetrate the demand for such a service. Many might think that obtaining an online picture printing company would be contradictory for Hewlett Packard because they do manufacture traditional picture printers. However, the difference between Hewlett Packard and Snapfish is that HP produces conventional picture printers and ink, while Snapfish handles contemporary online photo storage, photo editing, and photo products. There are also different price schematics and options available for consumers now with the combination of these two great companies, which definitely may have a positive impact on everyone.

Chapter 2: Strategies and Gaining Competitive Advantage
The acquisition is certainly a great strategic move especially after the acquisition of Flickr Inc. by Yahoo. Yahoo also wanted to extend their territory and infiltrate the online picture service with Flickr, but I personally believe the Snapfish acquisition is going to be much more effective. Hewlett Packard will achieve a strategic advantage at this point due to the fact that no other company has even attempted to take the online picture market global. Yahoo’s acquisition of Flickr will definitely not expand completely global as of yet, therefore Hewlett Packard has a leading edge. The idea of globalizing the online picture service market, giving consumers more choices based on mood and convenience, providing a spectrum of prices, and offering different services will also certainly give Hewlett Packard a competitive advantage. There are eight basic ideas that can be used to achieve a competitive advantage; reducing costs, raising barriers to market entrants, establishing high switchi...