HP 2008 Annual Report Download - page 157

HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)
Note 17: Litigation and Contingencies (Continued)
environmental laws or if its products become non-compliant with environmental laws. HP’s potential
exposure includes fines and civil or criminal sanctions, third-party property damage or personal injury
claims and clean up costs. The amount and timing of costs under environmental laws are difficult to
predict.
HP is party to, or otherwise involved in, proceedings brought by U.S. or state environmental
agencies under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act
(‘‘CERCLA’’), known as ‘‘Superfund,’’ or state laws similar to CERCLA. HP is also conducting
environmental investigations or remediations at several current or former operating sites pursuant to
administrative orders or consent agreements with state environmental agencies.
HP is also subject to legislation in an increasing number of jurisdictions that makes producers of
electrical goods, including computers and printers, financially responsible for specified collection,
recycling, treatment and disposal of past and future covered products (sometimes referred to as
‘‘product take-back legislation’’). For example, the European Union (‘‘EU’’) adopted the Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive in January 2003. That directive makes producers of
electrical goods, including computers and printers, financially responsible for specified collection,
recycling, treatment and disposal of past and future covered products. The EU member states were
obliged to make producers participating in the market financially responsible for implementing these
responsibilities.
Note 18: Segment Information
Description of Segments
HP is a leading global provider of products, technologies, software, solutions and services to
individual consumers, small and medium sized businesses (‘‘SMBs’’), and large enterprises including the
public and education sectors. HP’s offerings span personal computing and other access devices; imaging
and printing-related products and services; enterprise information technology (‘‘IT’’) infrastructure,
including enterprise storage and server technology; software that optimizes business technology
investments; financial services including leasing; and multi-vendor customer services, including
technology support and maintenance, consulting and integration, information technology and business
process outsourcing services and application services.
HP and its operations are organized into seven business segments for financial reporting purposes:
Enterprise Storage and Servers (‘‘ESS’’), HP Services (‘‘HPS’’), HP Software, the Personal Systems
Group (‘‘PSG’’), the Imaging and Printing Group (‘‘IPG’’), HP Financial Services (‘‘HPFS’’), and
Corporate Investments. The business operation that we acquired through our acquisition of EDS is a
business unit within HPS for financial reporting purposes. HP’s organizational structure is based on a
number of factors that management uses to evaluate, view and run its business operations, which
include, but are not limited to, customer base, homogeneity of products and technology. The business
segments disclosed in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements are based on this
organizational structure and information reviewed by HP’s management to evaluate the business
segment results. ESS, HPS and HP Software are reported collectively as a broader Technology
Solutions Group (‘‘TSG’’). In order to provide a supplementary view of HP’s business, aggregated
financial data for TSG is presented herein.
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