????眼下，惠普公司（HP）儼然已成為各公司董事會(huì)成員研討董事會(huì)行為準(zhǔn)則的最新首選案例。

????最近，這家苦苦掙扎的技術(shù)巨頭一直不得不在眾目睽睽之下疲于應(yīng)付一些它寧愿稱為“混亂”的問題，即與其近期宣布要從根本上改變業(yè)務(wù)模式這一計(jì)劃引發(fā)的問題。

????無論是聲譽(yù)，還是股價(jià)，惠普都已遭遇重創(chuàng)，因?yàn)樗鼰o法清晰地闡明其轉(zhuǎn)型的總體戰(zhàn)略，也無法證明，它計(jì)劃以103億美元收購軟件公司Autonomy在商業(yè)上到底意義何在。

????上個(gè)月，圍繞著惠普公司前景的“混亂困惑”導(dǎo)致公司股票遭遇重挫。8月19日，即公司公布戰(zhàn)略轉(zhuǎn)型計(jì)劃的第二天，股價(jià)就出現(xiàn)跳水。至昨天為止，惠普的股價(jià)在過去12個(gè)月中已經(jīng)跌去40%；年初至今，已跌去44%。

????通常，短期股價(jià)波動(dòng)不應(yīng)該是董事會(huì)擔(dān)憂的問題，但不到九個(gè)月股價(jià)近乎腰斬就亟需引起重視了——那么，我們來看看惠普董事會(huì)都做了些什么。

????董事會(huì)新成員自年初接受任命以來至今這段任期內(nèi)，惠普的市值已削去一半。今年年初，這些任命就已飽受抨擊，因?yàn)槭虑榈恼嫦嘀饾u浮出水面：惠普的新任董事會(huì)主席雷?萊恩繞過董事會(huì)的獨(dú)立任命流程，讓首席執(zhí)行官參與確定董事會(huì)成員的候選人，并親自督陣這一流程（盡管他與首席執(zhí)行官有多年交情，但他本人并不是任命委員會(huì)的成員）。這一流程引發(fā)了ISS及其他機(jī)構(gòu)對(duì)這些的擔(dān)憂。ISS是股東的代理顧問機(jī)構(gòu)。

????一般來說，公司決定公布重大戰(zhàn)略轉(zhuǎn)型時(shí)，絕大多數(shù)董事會(huì)都會(huì)將發(fā)布聲明事宜交給首席執(zhí)行官和公司的公關(guān)團(tuán)隊(duì)來完成。但是惠普股票下跌過程中，卻是董事會(huì)成員親自出馬來捍衛(wèi)公司的戰(zhàn)略轉(zhuǎn)變，并進(jìn)行了解釋——其中既包括《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》（Wall Street Journal）專欄撰文，也包括投資者的會(huì)談。

????當(dāng)然，公司的相關(guān)宣布引發(fā)強(qiáng)烈的負(fù)面反響，惠普董事會(huì)也許確實(shí)有必要介入，但一開始，在戰(zhàn)略制定階段，董事會(huì)到底應(yīng)該扮演什么樣的角色？

????今年年初，萊恩對(duì)幾位惠普董事會(huì)新成員的任命做出解釋時(shí)，他對(duì)董事會(huì)的職能給出了幾種自相矛盾的說法。美國(guó)全國(guó)廣播公司財(cái)經(jīng)頻道（CNBC）1月20日對(duì)他進(jìn)行了一次訪談，其間他表示，董事會(huì)的首要職責(zé)是：“支持李艾科（惠普的首席執(zhí)行官），支持他形成自己的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)風(fēng)格，支持他為公司制定的戰(zhàn)略……”

????但短短一周之后，他的基調(diào)就變了。1月26日他接受《商業(yè)周刊》雜志（BusinessWeek）采訪時(shí)稱，董事們“不支持李艾科和我……他們自行決策?！?/p>

????HP has become the new go-to example in discussions among board members on how a company's board should -- and shouldn't -- behave.

????Lately, the struggling tech giant has had to continue to publicly address what it prefers to call "some confusion" related to its recently announced plans to fundamentally change its business.

????The company has suffered hits both to its reputation and its stock price due to its inability to clearly articulate its overall shift in strategy and its failure to demonstrate that its plan to buy software company Autonomy for approximately $10.3 billion makes business sense.

????The confusion surrounding HP's future led to precipitous drops in the company's stock price last month, with shares plummeting on August 19, the day after it made its strategy announcement. As of yesterday, HP (HPQ) stock was down 40% over the last 12 months and 44% year-to-date.

????While short-term stock price movements should normally not be a concern for boards, nearly halving the value of the stock in less than nine months warrants some attention -- and a look at the board's practices.

????HP's market value has been cut in half during the tenure of new board members who were appointed at the beginning of the year. Those appointments came under fire earlier this year as it became clear that HP's newly appointed chair, Ray Lane, circumvented the board's independent nominations process by involving the CEO in identifying board candidates and deciding to oversee the process himself (although he had a long-standing relationship with the CEO and was not a member of the nominations committee). This process raised concerns about the appointments from ISS, a shareholder proxy advisor, and others.

????When companies decide to announce major shifts in strategy, most boards leave the talking to the CEO and the company's communications team. In HP's case, however, members of the board were out defending and explaining the company's changing direction amid the stock fallout -- both in a Wall Street Journal op-ed and in conversations with investors.

????To be sure, the particularly adverse reaction to the announcements may have made the board's involvement necessary in this case, but what was the board's role in strategy supposed to be in the first place?

????When Lane was explaining the appointment of the new HP board members earlier this year, he offered several conflicting views of the board's role. In a January 20 interview on CNBC, he said that the top priority for the board was "to support Leo [Apotheker, HP's CEO], to support Leo in forming his leadership, his strategy for the company…."

????Lane changed his tune less than a week later. In a January 26 BusinessWeek interview, Lane said the directors "are not there to support Leo or me … they are there to take independent decisions."