2005-2-17
I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Economics Report.
Women lead eight of the five
hundred largest American companies. The number fell last week when
the directors of Hewlett-Packard asked Carly Fiorina to resign. A
day later, the Sara Lee Corporation named Brenda Barnes as its chief
executive officer.
Carly Fiorina was the first chief executive chosen from outside
Hewlett-Packard. She was brought in to make changes at the
technology company. Fortune magazine named her "the most powerful
woman in business."
Soon after she arrived at H-P, Miz Fiorina stated that "there is
no glass ceiling." A lot of people thought she meant that women and
minorities face no barriers to rising in companies. A research
group, Catalyst, found that women held sixteen percent of top jobs
at the largest American companies in two thousand two. Miz Fiorina
said her point was that people who see possibilities do better over
time than those who see limitations.
Many chief executives keep their jobs just three or four years.
Miz Fiorina stayed almost six. Business advisers Booz Allen Hamilton
found the world average to be around eight years.
Some people say Carly Fiorina received the same treatment that a
man would have received. Critics said she kept too much power to
herself. They said her actions harmed financial performance. H-P
stock now sells for less than half its price when she arrived.
Miz Fiorina entered into the culture of a company started in a
one-car garage in California in nineteen thirty-nine. In two
thousand one she announced a deal to combine Hewlett-Packard with
Compaq Computer.
Some shareholders resisted. Walter Hewlett, the son of one of the
two men who started H-P, opposed the deal in court. But shareholders
approved it in March of two thousand two.
Results have been mixed. Since the merger with Compaq, H-P has
increased its share of the world computer market to almost sixteen
percent. But Dell has grown faster. That company now holds almost
twenty percent of the highly competitive market.
Still, H-P remains the leading maker of computer printers in the
world. And it is now the eleventh largest company in the United
States.
The ouster of Carly Fiorina means the largest one led by a woman
will be Sara Lee. Sara Lee, best known for food products, is one
hundred fourth on the Fortune Five Hundred list of top American
companies.
This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario
Ritter. I'm Gwen Outen.