Target Corporation Strengths And Weaknesses

Target Canada is the company’s first international expansion. However, Target’s expansion was not successful, as the company had initially planned for. Therefore, the company will be closing 133 Target Canada stores across the country and lay off approximately 17,600 employees. According to Target’s CEO Brian Cornell, he stated “After a thorough review of our Canadian performance and careful consideration of the implications of all options, we were unable to find a realistic scenario that would get Target Canada to profitability until at least 2021.” Moreover, problems occurred immediately when Target opened up over hundred stores in the first year of its Canadian Expansion. For example, customers complained about the lack of basic goods, prices being too high, and the unavailability of U.S. brands in the stores. It was the start of Target accumulating losses as high as a billion dollars a year. In addition, there was also increasing competition with Wal-Mart being the biggest retailer in Canada. The already intimidating rival lowered its prices in order to fend off Target. Furthermore, Target Corporation’s cash costs to discontinue Canadian operations are expected to be $500 million to $600 million, most of which will occur in the Company’s 2015 fiscal year or later. The Company has sufficient resources to fund these expected costs, including cash on hand and ongoing cash generation by

Wal-Mart’s is one of Target’s biggest competitors, but other retailers are also trying to compete, such as Sears, Dollar General, and Amazon. Although Target caters more to a more upscale clientele, it still carriers many of the same items as Wal-Mart. Target is not able to compete internationally with Wal-Mart since all of stores are in the U.S. but by 2014, they will have about 150 stores

Target has been a successful retail company coming in 2nd place behind Wal-Mart. Although these success comes in many forms there are factors that deter Target from ever reaching first. Target Corporation has run into a few weaknesses in the recent years. These weaknesses that Target are facing can impact their future goals. These weaknesses include lawsuits that Target is facing with the recent events and not having an international presence.

Target is the second biggest retail company after Walmart. Native New Yorker, George Draper Dayton first built a company named Dayton Dry Goods Company in 1902 in the Minneapolis area which is now known as target headquarter. Walmart faced the out of stock issue problem last year and now their biggest competitor, Target, also has faced the same problem this year. Target has a problem keeping the availability of the product in their stores in Canada. It resulted in a huge loss of money and closing down their stores. The CEO of Target said that this is a serious problem and must been solved.

The aim of this paper is to highlight the strategic position of the company with an overview of its internal and external environment. The study of its strategy, design and other forces, one can easily gauge why and how target has managed to become the retail giant it is today.

The Target Corporation is a general merchandise retailer that opened up in in 1962 under the parent company of Dayton Corporation. This parent company was renamed the Target Corporation in 2000 and are based out of Minneapolis. There are over 1,800 Target stores throughout the United States which includes Targets and Super Targets. In 2005 Target began expansion in India and in 2011 to Canada however this expansion into Canada did not fare well and all Target Canada stores were closed by 2015. According to Forbes in 2005 they we ranked amongst the highest cash-giving companies in America with 2.1% given and they donate about 5% of its pre-tax operating profit. In 2010 Target was ranked number 22 by Fortune magazine’s World's Most Admired Companies.

A possible acquisition for Target would be the addition of Best Buy. Best Buy has been struggling as of late and has basically become a showroom for items that people will go elsewhere to purchase at a lower price. Best Buy suffers for its lack of variety and people will rather go shop at places such as Target and Wal-Mart. Target could also benefit from this merger by acquiring Best Buy’s brand presence and experience in selling electronics and appliances. Best Buy currently operates too many stores, and is in a dire need of a stronger presence online and has a dwindling reputation of taking care of its customers. It would be a good idea for Target to remake its electronics sections into Best Buy mini-stores and utilize its strengths in customer service to strengthen these departments. Replacing Best Buy larger stores could be smaller Best Buy locations in smaller towns and more strategic areas with the backing of a strong Target- Best Buy internet presence. Target could also utilize Best Buy’s biggest asset Geek

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.

One of Targets biggest competitors is Wal-Mart and surprisingly they have a different type of organizational structure. “…our new structure will align three very successful operating divisions – Logistics, Real Estate and Store Operations under a unified leadership team. We will organize into three distinctive geographic business units (GBUs) – Walmart West, Walmart South and Walmart North”("Wal-Mart", 2014). Unlike Target, Wal-Marts stores and distribution centers are broken into three sectors not four. This is very surprising because Wal-Mart has over 4,000 stores in the United States and Target has only 1,797. Even though the mission of these two stores is extremely similar, providing a wide arrangement of quality products at reasonable prices, they are managed very differently.

I chose to do my research on the Target Corporation. I feel they have a reputation of service to their customers, employees and community. Target’s mission is great value, the community, diversity and the environment. Target takes 5% of its income and puts back into the community. The Reading and Education Program, The Military and Veteran Support Program and The Social Services Program are just a few of several programs Target Corporation offers to the community. Target has a great reputation to be a positive fixture in the communities they serve. I think it says a lot about a company and the way it does business. I would feel good about working for a corporation like this. The Target Corporation has good ethics and is socially

Thus, Target operations thought that opening over 100 stores all over Canada would be a great opportunity for the company to expand its profitability. However, the exact opposite happened. Instead of reaching their profitability goal, there is an estimated loss between $800-$900 million, since the opening of stores in Canada (Austin, 2014). The cause of this failure was due to a lack of inventory in most stores; leading to empty shelves and many of the favorable brands from U.S. Target’s did not make it to the stores in Canada. Another problem was that prices were higher in Canadian stores compared to U.S. store prices due to shipping costs and tax (Austin, 2014). Target failed to think this whole process through before acting on it. Starting with the 124 stores who all had to be remodeled and up and running in less than a year due to Canada’s policy of not letting any store stay vacant for any longer than that; to having the ability to furnish and fill the stores with all of their merchandise (Nolan, 2014). Soon they came to realize they could not. Target’s lack of looking into the higher prices they would have been paying making it able to get the merchandise over the border into Canada, was another issue leading to the company’s ineffective plans. Having noticed early on that the extra costs of tax will lead to a price mark up on in store products,

If Target were forced to consider re-organization and bankruptcy strategies the changes that may occur to its finance policy and capital structure could be devastating. Target is currently the number two retailer behind Wal-Mart, but would change with any sort of re-organization or bankruptcy. Target would have to liquidate its inventory in order to repay its debt. It would also have to close plants and cut employees to reduce overall costs. Target would also have to sell many of its assets and plants around the

As the November Meeting approaches, CFO Doug Scovanner is faced with the problem of choosing which of the five controversial projects available to accept. Our task is to assume this role and evaluate each of the projects based upon two major criteria. The first is determining the firm’s financial motives by quantifying the projected value added to the firm and the risk associated with each project. When determining to accept or reject projects based upon adding value, the most helpful instruments we have are Net Present Value (NPV) and the

Expansion is a risky step for any business to take. International expansion has potential to be devastating to a company; or, it can lead to success on an even grander scale. By placing Target in Mexico, specifically Mexico City to begin with, opportunities are created for both the company and the country to grow. This expansion makes sense for several key reasons. One reason is that Target has yet to expand out of the United States. After a failed attempt at moving into Canada, the company has not tried international expansion since. Wal-Mex is the only retail store in Mexico that offers similar products for similar prices, which leaves space for a store like Target. Wal-Mart and Target have also been known to do well in the same areas. Target

Target Corporation was incorporated in Minnesota in 1902. Target operates large-format general merchandise discount stores in the United States, which include Target and SuperTarget stores.