Target's Ethical Implications

Target has suggested that its vendors create special products or prevent price comparisons to help decrease consumer show-rooming (Kinicki & Williams, 2013). Pressure of this sort could create opportunities for vendors to participate in unethical practices and could create a negative image for Target (McKay, Nitsch, & Peters, 2015). Although laws, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, are basic frameworks that business operations must comply with, there is no guideline that businesses have to follow when making business decisions. Furthermore, ethical behavior can be perceived by customers, investors, and society as corporate responsible while creating additional value for products or services (Kinicki et al., 2013). Target should ensure that it ethically follows all constraints of the law while considering the impacts its decisions will have on its stakeholders, and while fostering an image, responsibly by corporate.

Target Corporation is an American retailing company, founded in 1902 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States. The company is ranked 36th on the Fortune 500 as of 2013. The first Target store was opened in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota. Today Target operates 1,934 stores in the United States with over 347,000 team members worldwide.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world 's largest retail enterprise, with total revenue of $421.8 billion and a net income of $16.4 billion in 2011. 1 It is also the world 's largest employer, with 2.1 million employees worldwide in 2010 2, not including workers hired by its providers. In my opinion, Wal-Mart provides a clear illustration through which to look at how many multinational companies (MNCs) take part in an illegal and unethical behavior. They use their bargaining power and market control to pressure countries to overlook environmental degradation and violation of national labor laws. They dictate expected pricing for products, particularly through imports from overseas countries. Labor is fulfilled mostly by underage and underpaid employees. In the United States, since 2005, Wal-Mart has paid about $1 billion in damages to U.S. employees in six different cases related to unpaid work. 3 Furthermore, Wal-Mart opposes any form of collective action, even when employees are not seeking unionization, but simply more respect. 4 The fact that Wal-Mart opposes unions exist. The company has a long history of fighting them, to the point of closing stores after employees organize. Managers have been instructed to talk to their teams about why unions are so unwanted in their business. Overseas, the company was involved in a series of scandals, including multiple cases of bribery. In April 2012, The New York Times published a story that

Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is the leading large-format general merchandise and discount retailer in the U.S., challenging Wal-Mart in electronics, toys and apparel while also seeking to differentiate with higher-end fashions and products for an upscale audience. As of the close of their latest fiscal year (FY2011), Target operated approximately 1,760 stores encompassing 233,000 square feet in 49 states and the District of Columbia. The company is divided into the retail and credit card divisions and moves the majority of its products through a highly integrated network of 37 different distribution centers, which include four food distribution centers. Target is one of the most well-entrenched large format retailers in the U.S., has the ability to manage their pricing strategies at a level of accuracy and precision that is comparable to Wal-Mart (Henderson, 2001). Unlike Wal-Mart, Target concentrates on a value-based message that concentrates on quality and price differentiation to sustain their gross margins while Wal-Mart concentrates on supply chain efficiency and a continual reduction of supplier and transaction costs (Krishnamurthi, 2001).

Target also deals with the threat of unionization of their employees. Many employees have expressed concern regarding low wages paid by Target. Like Wal-Mart, Target is against unionization because they believe that employee issues should and can be resolved without third party mediation. (gawker.com)

When an ethical dilemma turns to lies. On Oct. 20, 2014, Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald sixteen times. Once the tape was released thirteen month later, the relationship between the community, the mayor, and the Chicago Police Department was shattered.

More often than not, Target’s products fall under the consumer discretionary category. Thus, the company is vulnerable to macroeconomic forces— consumer spending trends, employment and income, and GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate. After a failed attempt to expand into Canada, Target’s operations are limited to the United States market. This makes the company’s financial performance more vulnerable to our fluctuating economy. It is primarily these macro forces, in the recession and thereafter, that forced Target to shift towards an affordability focus in all of its product lines. However, these macro forces, in the betterment of the state of the economy, also provide Target with the opportunity to refresh its product offerings according to the tastes and preferences of its consumers, while continuing to offer a relatively low price point, regardless of the product area. In this way, Target is shifting from employing a production concept, in which its main focus is to sell products at a low production

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

In today’s world, especially in Canada, consumers generally want to satisfy all of their needs in a way that saves them the most time and energy. In order to meet this need, Target offers their customers the chance to buy different products that they would normally have to go to two or three different stores

One of the issues Target could face if it continues to only focus on private label store brands and do not promote national brands is losing a percentage of its customers. Although Target’s innovative amount of store brands on its aisles has proven successfully for the retailer and consumers have shown a positive reception to the products, there are still a number of customers who are accustomed to

Target, as a whole, is huge corporation/business. As a business, in order to stay open and run functionally, Target has to abide by regulatory and/or industry standards. The two regulatory and industry standards that are required for any financial, retailer, and/or business is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). PCI DSS is a global industry standard while GLBA is a government regulatory standard. Target has to abide by PCI DSS and GLBA.

In the 1980s, discount retailer began taking over the market share and Sears, Roebuck, and Co. began to experience financial difficulties. To counter these issue Sears developed an incentive plan to increase profit in its auto centers. The incentive plan lead to many complaints of mechanics misleading and charging customer for repairs that were unnecessary. These allegations were denied by Sears and an action plan was created to resolve any isolated errors that may have occurred. Chuck Fabbri, a Sears mechanic from California, wrote a letter to US Senator Rich Bryan stating that Sears claims of improvements of their incentive plan are not true. Fabbri stated Sears may call the compensation a piecework, but it is

Do you think Target is balancing its brand promise of “Expect More. Pay Less.”or is one goal overshadowing the other?

An employee spends several hours a week on her cell phone talking with her children and their associated caregivers, schools, and friends

The world continues to rapidly evolve in the global village. As a result, the interaction between consumers and produces has become complex. Hence, techniques should be used to reach out intended consumers. One of these techniques is the use of target marketing. Aaker, Brumbaugh and Grier (2000, p. 128) asserted that target marketing is a technique that firm uses to identify and select a small group of consumers from within a larger population. Porta (2010) believed that a target market is practical, most especially for small businesses, because no one can afford to target everybody. Hence, building a solid foundation for a business requires that typical customers are identified. In line with this assertion, this paper will provide for the ethical implication of target marketing in terms of reaching specific groups of consumers. Further, two groups of consumers will be chosen, and how the marketers attempt to sell them