From a one-car-garage company to a multibillion-dollar industry, the rise of Hewlett-Packard is an extraordinary tale of vision, innovation and hard work. Conceived in 1939, Hewlett - Packard earned success not only as a result of its engineering know-how and cutting-edge product ideas, but also because of the unique management style it developed a way of doing things called the HP way. Decades before todays creative management trends, Hewlett - Packard invented such strategies as walk-around management, flextime and quality cycles. Always sensitive to the needs of its customers and responsive to employee input, Hewlett-Packard earned massive steady growth that far outshone its competitors vacillating fortunes, even with radically different products from those responsible for its initial boom. For entrepreneurs and managers alike, the wisdom found in these pages is invaluable if they want their businesses to gain steady growth and consistent success. Transcending the evershifting marketplace and management trends, The HP Way offers the hard-won and battle-tested practical experience of a proven and respected leader. About the Author With Bill Hewlett, David Packard was co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Company. In September 1993, he retired as chairman of the board and was named chairman emeritus. He served in that position until his death on March 26, 1996. The company headquarters are in Palo Alto, Calif. HPs first product was a resistance-capacitance audio oscillator based on a design developed by Hewlett when he was in graduate school. The companys first plant was a small garage in Palo Alto and the initial capital amounted to $538. Packard served as a partner in the company from its founding in 1939 until it was incorporated in 1947. In 1947, he became president, a post he held until 1964, when he was elected chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Packard left the company in 1969 to become U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense in the first Nixon administration. He served in this capacity for almost three years and resigned his post in 1971. When he returned to California, he was re-elected chairman of the board of HP. Over the years, Packard was active in a number of professional, educational, civic and business organizations. He was a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a lifetime member of the Instrument Society of America. He also was a co-founder and past chairman of the American Electronics Association. Until his death, Packard had been president and chairman of The David and Lucile Packard Foundation since it began in 1964. This organization supports universities, national institutions, community groups, youth agencies, family planning centers and hospitals that are dependent on private funding and volunteer leadership.