Financial Re-engineering v "Real" Engineering
A quote the CEO of Siemens made when he was referring to the US as a whole in the aftermath of the 2008 Financial crisis is very applicable to hi tech and in particular HP (and HPE): "they would be better off if they put less effort into financial re-engineering and more effort into real engineering".
A good chunk of HP's problem is that they haven't come up with a blockbuster product in a while now, and they're in collective denial that the problem with Windows has anything to do with them ... even though it's the key driver for user experience on their main product.
As for all hi tech's highly leveraged takeovers (Dell), de-mergers (HP), acquisitions (Lenovo), and lay-offs ... their current predicaments speaks to the success of their finance spreadsheet jockies & retention bonuses for their senior management.