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Big Bets vs. Little Bets and the future of HP

Harvard Business Review

HP had grown so large, to about $30 billion in sales, that Barnholt and other senior managers felt pinched to reach their double-digit growth goals. To launch HP's big new businesses, the company's managers took rigorously logical steps. But they only looked at opportunities in what were already billion dollar markets.

Ries 10
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Learn to Adjust Your Focus

Harvard Business Review

A market segment can be characterized broadly (women 25-34) or specifically (women in an early career phase who are newly-married and starting a family). When the product was launched in 2001 , it aimed to revolutionize personal transportation , touted as a unique way for people to travel short distances.