The editorial team at Management Consultancy couldn't have done more. The ladies bought hats and the gents took out a weekend hire from Moss Bros. We cleared space in our social announcements column. We left plenty of time to reach the church. When we arrived, we found PwC's James J Schiro at the altar twiddling his thumbs. Where was the bride? We waited for Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina to glide up the aisle. And we waited. And waited.
The bride’s perogative is to be a little late. Surely she was just exercising her right? This was going to be an occasion she wouldn’t want to miss.
After all, this was a marriage made in … the best interest of all concerned.
Two industry giants hold hands, gaze into each other’s eyes, and make themselves very, very rich. How could she say “no”?
PwC had the strategic expertise, Hewlett-Packard had the technological expertise. They were going to produce beautiful solutions. Solutions the world would coo over. However, it soon became apparent that PwC was going to jilted, very publicly jilted. Fiorina was a runaway bride.
It seemed that she was sitting on a considerably black set of financials. Financials that required her immediate attention. She could not countenance talk of marriage at such a time. Hewlett-Packard would have to learn to love itself before it was able to love another.
As for PwC, still shuffling at the altar – will this episode turn the organisation into an embittered, self-regarding operation that shuns advances from other companies? We doubt it. Some companies are not meant to be alone. PwC is one of them. We are not taking our tails back to Moss Bros just yet.