Marketing Plan For Target Corporate N.d

Target’s mission statement: “Our mission is to make Target your preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and exceptional guest experiences by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less brand promise.” (target.com)

Headquartered in Minneapolis Minnesota, Target Corporation is one of the largest chains of retail stores in United States and Canada (Stone, 1995). Founded in 1902, the chain now has more than 360,000 employees worldwide. The company operates nearly 1925 stores out of which 1795 stores are in the US and 130 stores are in Canada (NASDAQ, 2014). The business prides itself in a diverse portfolio of merchandise that their outlets houses, ranging from dry groceries to electronics, furniture, apparel and much more. Its distribution networks make use of third party vendors, direct shipping as well as distribution centers. It also operates a successful e-store target.com which offers customers a virtual one-stop shop for their needs.

The objective of this case is to understand the importance of crisis management. This case is intended to make the reader consider not only financial implications at the time of the event but the effects on the long term strategies of the organization. Also, the case urges participants to think about the consequences not only on the customer but on those within the organization as well.

The Target Corporation has undergone many changes due to the 2013 security breach where hackers stole personal information from credit and debit cards of at least 70 million customers. Target sales and reputation has dropped from this instance, thus eliciting changes in their security systems, changes in management, and a few policy changes in handling customer information. With the public eye on the corporation’s handling of the situation, Target has been communicating these changes through various means. The changes they needed to communicate were informing customers of the security breach, addressing the bad press coverage to shareholders, downsizing of employees, and

Target Corporation’s mission statement is to make their company the most sought after shopping destination by delivering a great guest experience with the most innovated technologies and quality merchandise. Target is the second largest general merchandise retailer in America. Target was founded by George Draper Dayton, in 1902, with the name Goodfellow Dry Goods. In 1903, Mr. Dayton changed the name to The Dayton Compay. Furthermore, the first Target store opened in 1962 in the Minneapolis, Minnesota which became the main headquarters. It grew to be the largest division of the Dayton-Hudson Corporation and was subsequently renamed the Target Corporation in 2000. Target anticipates staying ahead by challenging the company to be the most efficient and intellectual upscale company in the retail industry (Target Corporation, 2016).

As we have seen throughout the county, if the proper “tone from the top” is not emphasized or proper policies/procedures implemented and adhered to throughout, the company’s reputation, assets, stock values could be harmed tremendously. Some smaller enterprises might not be able to sustain a cyberattack and

Target Corporation is known worldwide as a large retail chain that brings in millions of dollars each fiscal year. The ability to remain competitive in a saturated industry could prove difficult to some retailers, but Target remains one of the leaders in the retail market. With success comes risk. Target Corporation competes against online retailers as well as “big box” stores to remain competitive.

With its well-known red bull’s eye logo, Target Corporation is the nation's number two discount chain, behind Wal-Mart. The fashion-minded discounter operates about 1,797 Target and SuperTarget stores in 49 states, as well as an online business called Target.com (Target, 2014). American customers are no longer looking for the cheapest product rather, they expect retailers to supply chic but fair priced products.

“Expect more, pay less” this slogan is known throughout the United States that links amazing service and quality products at a great price from one convenient location, Target. Target has a long history of providing a wide variety of products from fashionable clothing for all members of the family to your everyday essential needs such as toiletries and cleaning supplies. Behind every wildly successful corporation is a strong organizational structure. Target has an extensive organizational structure that helps them provide the amazing products they do at even better prices.

The CEO and the board are responsible for “good business judgment” in guarding against the threat. So Paul’s first mistake was to dismiss the original e-mail message. All IT threats should be taken seriously, and he would have let Jacob Dale know about no IT system is “bulletproof.” Sunnylake should have had a workable, fully tested backup system to ensure uninterrupted patient service and protect everyone affected. Doctors and nurses are trained to diagnose, problem solve, and dynamically treat their patients. IT systems facilitate, but are not substitutes for, patient treatment. The fact that the hospital did not have up-to-date security software installed, or a reliable security outsourcer and an emergency plan in place, is inexcusable.

With the four principal management functions CEO Greg Steinhafel exhibited that of leadership. "Leadership is defines as motivating, directing, and otherwise influencing people to work hard to achieve the organization's goals." ( Kinicki & Williams, 2016, p.10). Mr. Steinhafel had to make decisions of how to handle the issues of what has just happened to their company and motivate and assure them that they will come out a more stronger and reliable company because of this breach. Of the seven managerial challenges Target is facing, challenge # 5 which is Managing for Ethical Standards. Hackers were able to get into Target's computers and gain access to consumers personal information. Target is handling this challenge by assuring the

Target works on trying to find environmentally friendly ways get the product to the customers. They work on reducing their carbon footprint by working with experts on ways to improve their packaging and transportation. (Target Corporate 2016.) They also try to get their manufactures to use sustainable apparel and footwear products. They encourage their customers to follow manufactures suggestion by washing apparel in cold water to help reduce the usage of water and energy consumption. (Target Corporate 2016.) Targets products come from all over the world.

Normally, a company would follow emergency procedures while dealing with crises, but in iPremier’s case, there was no emergency procedure available. Under these circumstances, and with no prior experience with security breaches, I believe the company performed well. Bob Turley communicated well with the other members of the company, but if I were in his shoes, I would have been more conservative and acted faster.

What is a crisis management? It is an unexpected crisis that happens on the company that will affect the trust and loyalty of the stakeholder. It can be extremely costly because it will affect the company reputation and brand. For example like financial failure from poor business management, workplace violence, fires, cybercrime, computer viruses, product tampering or union strikes and other external issue like damaged economy that causes from London bombings, terrorists attacks on 11 September and others. The SHRM 2005 report indicates that only 56% organizations created or revised their disaster preparedness plans but 45% did not after the terrorist attacked on

According to Rouse (2013), “crisis management is the application of strategies designed to help an organization deal with a sudden and significant negative event” (para. 1). In other words, crisis management is the method used by firms to deter or handle crisis situations, such as mergers, fires, major computer system disruptions, and other crisis situations. For the past twelve years, one has observed Chairman Michael German (i.e., German) help grow his family business from startup to a forty-five employee company. Although German has succeeded in growing the organization with his business experience, he previously faced a crisis that was eventually resolved; however, the crisis could have been handled in a better way.