China not an emerging market anymore: HP CEO

SHANGHAI, CHINA: China as a market has already evolved and so, it cannot be considered an emerging economy anymore, according to Hewlett-Packard chief executive officer Meg Whitman. She was addressing the press on the final day of the HP Global Influencer Summit at the Shanghai International Expo Centre here on Thursday.

"The BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China —  are being considered the emerging economies. But I don't think China is an emerging market anymore, as it has already evolved. HP chose China for the international summit this year, because of the fact that it is one of the best technologically advanced countries in the world," she said in reply to a question.

Whitman further added that her company was not planning a force reduction in the country, as it was one of its focused markets.

She said that HP was also planning huge investments in other emerging economies. "(That) we have not talked about Africa does not mean that we are not focusing on the countries in this region. In fact, we are planning investments on a massive scale in countries like Kenya and South Africa."

"China was not a prosperous country, as it is seen today. Likewise, Africa, too, will emerge. We are investing huge amounts in some countries in this region in coming years," she elaborated on HP's investment plans in Africa.

Asked about the internal conflicts happening in HP at the time of her joining, she said, "I do not deny that there were no problems in the company when I joined. But we cannot change the past. We are now focused on future. I am very excited about where we are now. It is a journey. When I joined the company, my first challenge was to stabilize it. The spin-off decision was a part of this plans," she said.

Whitman further said that she didn't have any plans to transform HP to a software company. "But we will try to solve some of the application-related issues of our customers in future, as we are also a player in the ITeS segment," she concluded.