Corporate Profile Module I: 1) Introduce your company. what does it do? How did it get started? How does it aID value? Who are the customers it competes for? What risks confront the company? What type of business is it-goods-producing or service? What industry does it operate in? What is it knowe for? Write an opening paragraph that engages your reader from the outset! 2) State its mission, vision, and values. Define these terms using the definition from Bovee and Thill. The mission: Most companies state their mission on their websit. Use your companys own words in your paper. The vision: You may have difficulty finding a statement of you companys vision; if you cant find it, you should state the vision in your own words based on what you have read about the companys philosophy and values on its website. 3) Analyze your companys mission statement. Is it just vague happy talk or does it really say why the company exists?
Corporate Profile Module II: 1) Discuss corporate ethics. Define business ethics. How does your company approach corporate ethics and what guidelines does it set forth? Does it adhere to what it says? 2) Discuss the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility. Who are the companys stakeholders? How does your company fulfill its responsibilities to its primary stakeholders-owners, employees, and customers? What approach does it use to CSR-Minimalist, Cynical, Defensive, or Proactive? 3) Discuss workforce diversity. Define this concept. Why is workforce diversity important? How does your company obtain or try to obtain a diverse workforce? Does it have a diversity policy? What evidence do you find that your company carries out ( or fails to carry out ) its policy?
Corporate Profile Module III: Discuss the marketing concept and why it is important to a business. What factors in the external environment affect your company? (Cosider economic conditions, the natural environment, social and cultural trends, laws and regulations, and technology-p. 293 of Bovee and Thill.) who constitutes your companys target market? What market-coverage strategy does your company use-undifferentiated, differentiated, concentrated, or micromarketing?) what media does it use to communcate the company image and marketing message?
Globalization 1) why do companies engage in international trade? (pp. 49-50) Is your company global? If it isnt, why do you think it has chosen to remain purely domestic? 2) If it is global, what cultural and legal differences does it encounter in the global business environment? (pp. 58-61) 3) what form of international business activity does it engage in? (pp. 62-64) 4) Which strategic approaches does your company use? (pp.64-65) 5) If your company does not engage in international business activity, what country do you think would be good for your companys expansion, and what strategic approach would you suggest? 6) if your company does have international operations, do you think the selected strategy is working? Would you change anything about your companys strategy?
Corporate Profile Module IV: Google finance and Yahoo finance are excellent resources for your discussion of the financial performance of your company. Comparisons to other companies in the industry will serve to enhance your paper. Follow your class finance notes for this section. 1) Describe your organizations financial performance. Insert the financial tables as explained in class. 2) Include and describe the Value Line report for your company. 3) How would you evaluate your companys performance? 4) What are the prospects for future performance? 5) Perform a brief SWOT analysis on your company
You can use tables to summarize the data in this section.
Corporate Profile Module V: 1) find an article ( or multiple articles) that discusses an important issue currently facing your company. 2) How do you think your company is positioned for the the future? Is your company an industry leader who will continue a position of leadership? Is your company losing market share? Look into the future and predict how your company will perform in the next five years with some justification for your answer .
Target Corporation an American retail company ranks second after Walmart in the discount chain of retail companies. It operates stores in 49 states in the United States and is considered to be one of the market leaders in the retailing industry (Hoovers 2011). Customers of the retail industry are no longer looking for cheap products rather, they expect suppliers to supply chic but fair priced products. Target is regarded as one such retail company that endeavors to supply customers with differentiated products at low costs than its competitors (Target 2011).
The subject matter of the essay is to create a complete corporate profile of Target Corporation and this will range from: Its history, formation, mission, vision and values, corporate ethics and social responsibility, marketing, international trade, among others.
Over the years the company has evolved tremendously since the first business began. Its history dates back to 1902 in Minneapolis when the Dayton Dry Goods Company was first formed. Real investor and Banker George Dayton bought shares of the Goodfellows Dry Goods Company to form the business. Because it dealt in a variety of goods and services its founder George Dayton changed the name to Dayton Company, to show that it did not deal in dry goods alone. In the years to 1962 the business operated as Dayton Company before it changed its name to Dayton Hudson when the first concept of target was created. However some years later, after many target stores which emphasized on upscale discounting had been established, the company name was changed to Target Corporation in 2000 (Target 2011).
Target Corporations headquarters are in Minneapolis close to the place where its original stores were located. It is known for being the second largest store in the retail industry after Walmart which is also its main competitor. It is known for providing customers with upscale products for fair prices as compared to competitors, and Fortune magazine ranked it at number 30 for being among the best companies (Hoovers 2011) in America.
Target Corporations stores range from their conventional target stores which carry a variety of products which mainly include electronics, health, clothing, beauty, kitchen, automobile, and hardware products. It also sells groceries which are mostly non perishable but in limited amounts (Target 2011). PFresh stores which mainly retail perishable, dairy and meat products. Target Greatland stores which also contain general merchandise, Super Target stores which sell merchandise that can be found in the target stores, and a wide selection of groceries. It also operates as a service company through its subsidiaries where it provides services such as financial services and interior decoration services (Target 2011).
When it comes to value creation, Target creates value for its customers by constantly striving to offer customers that combination of quality and differentiated products or services at low prices (Target 2011). This is likely to satisfy customers while making them view the company as the ultimate value creator. Customer value creation is a strategy consistent with its long term goals of shareholder wealth maximization.
Even though Target enjoys its large scale presence In the United States and in Canada due to its recent international development, it is faced with a major risk of negative publicity because of the rumored low wages that it pays its employees. More risks facing the company include concerns about its corporate ethics and social responsibility.
A mission statement describes the overall and unique purpose for a companys existence. It basically states what the company is all about, who the customers are and what values it deems important (Kotler and Armstrong 2011). Targets mission states to make Target the preferred shopping destination for our guests by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and an exceptional guest experience by consistently fulfilling our Expect More Pay Less brand promise. It is committed to improving its operations and also to improve its customers experience (Target 2011).
A vision statement gives the details about where the company wants to be in future. It is from the vision statement that a company derives its mission statement which is intended to drive it to that future state (Kotler and Armstrong 2011). Targets vision is to be the best retail store in the world, offering its customers unique and quality products and services that should ultimately satisfy every customer and make them see value for the purchases they make.
Values represent those principles that guide a corporations conduct when dealing with its internal and external stakeholders. They are the beliefs that the company holds dear and they help to form an organizational culture within the company (Kotler and Armstrong 2011). Values that Target incorporates in conducting its business include; high ethical standards, professional and personal integrity, delivering quality products and services at fair prices, respect for customers, customer satisfaction, building trust among customers, among others.
A mission statement should be concise and comprehensive. It should have meaning attached to it and should not be used solely for public relations exercises (Kotler and Armstrong 2011).
In order to work towards achieving its vision, Targets mission provides the guidance needed to reach that future state. It has gown fast to become one of the largest retail stores in the United States, serving customers promptly by delivering products and services to meet their expectations. Even though it sometimes experiences difficulties in attaining the performance levels it sets, it manages to turnaround and make the most from its stores. The pressure from competitors also makes it come up with ideas about how to continuously improve their products so that customers are fully satisfied. This shows that it works in accordance to its missions requirements and uses it to measure its progress towards customer satisfaction.
Corporate ethics refers to the application of principles of morality in the day to day activities of the business (Vilcox and Mohan 2007, p. 1). Companies that are ethical must satisfy the three levels of ethics, that is, the macro, corporate and individual levels of ethics.
Macro level business ethics relates to those standards that a corporation must satisfy on a national and international scale. That is, doing good or behaving morally right when faced with political systems of countries in which it operates in and observing the culture of those countries. Basically it refers to the role of a company when dealing in an international scale. Corporate level business ethics are those standards that a corporation should observe when working towards achieving their strategic objectives. Individual level ethics refers to the behavior of individual persons within the organization that determine whether it is behaving ethically or not (Vilcox and Mohan 2007).
Target approaches corporate ethics by encouraging its staff and the leaders to work towards putting its values in action, to be the worlds most ethical retail stores. It also encourages everyone to follow suit on the practices of the Dayton brothers when they were company leaders. To ensure that this is the case it has established very firm processes and policies, with a complete governance structure of board of directors to ensure that all individuals within the company observe business ethics (Target 2011). It has also developed a section on its website that specifically deals with its issues of corporate governance and ethics where it gives detailed information on how it works towards achieving high standards of ethics. It has also received awards for being the most reputable and admired company, this is a true reflection of its efforts in observing corporate ethics.
For companies to prove to society that they are observing business ethics, they need to be socially responsible. Corporate social responsibility therefore means that a corporation should maintain moral standards in dealing with its stakeholders in order to enhance their welfare and at the same time respect their rights (Vilcox and Mohan 2007, p. 5). Being socially responsible ensures that the company lives peacefully within its society because it is through such responsibility that society forms an informed opinion about any company.
Corporate social responsibility also means observing the triple bottom line and working towards sustainability development, so that the needs of all stakeholders in society and not just the needs of the shareholders are met. Other stakeholders in this context include the employees, customers, regulators, government, and the environment, among others (Vilcox and Mohan 2007).
To some shareholders, companies that engage in corporate social responsibility are depriving them of their right to wealth maximization, however, at Target Corporation; corporate social responsibility is a way that enables it to do well while doing good to its shareholders. The company therefore releases annual CSR reports to show how they have fulfilled their responsibilities towards their stakeholders (Target2011).
Targets responsibility towards its owners is to maximize their wealth. Target does this by using its resources in the most efficient ways. Also it realizes that in doing good to society it is able to continue doing well in terms of its profitability. This is because when a companys mission becomes to satisfy customers, they respond by making purchases and this provides the means by which the company makes profits (Vilcox and Mohan 2007).
To show its responsibility towards its employees, Target hires individuals with talent and commits itself to giving them the best training, and rewarding them appropriately in order to gain their trust, and in order for them to use their skills and experiences in furthering the companys interests (Target 2011).
To improve their employees value proposition, the company incorporates its corporate values in its human resource planning. Employees are allowed to exchange their experiences at Target and this motivates employees to engage in fulfilling the companys mission (Target 2011).
Targets responsibility towards its customers is to ensure that they are always pleased with what the company has to offer them. Therefore the company ensures that all its products are safe for the customers to use. It also ensures that it strives to improve them continuously so that the customers are paying to get products and services that meet and exceed their needs. The company also ensures that its stores are safe so that customers are free from accidents that might occur while shopping (Target 2011).
Target uses a social contract approach to CSR, because it believes that it is through doing good for the society that it is able to do well in terms of its performance. It engages in programs that are aimed at improving the health and safety of communities and being philanthropic to society. It has even been ranked at number 22 by Fortune magazine for being a philanthropic company. It does everything to avoid all other approaches that undermine the society especially the minimalist approach which puts the interests of shareholders above those of other stakeholders (Target 2011).
Workforce diversity refers to appreciation of those attributes that make individuals within an organization unique from each other. It involves creation of policies and practices which take into consideration people within the organization that are said to be different from the rest (Harris 2009, p. 2).
Workforce diversity is important because, through it a company is able to show that it is socially responsible by including people within the society who are disadvantaged. It allows companies to have a competitive edge because, for them to be competitive they need to prove that they do not discriminate on people and their practices. Legally companies are required to show that they do not employ people on discriminatory grounds and these policies show that they comply with such requirements (Harris 2009). Workforce diversity has proved as an effective tool in marketing because such employees offer important insights on what the different communities expect from companies. Further a diverse workforce is a true reflection of the diverse customer base that a company has.
At Target Corporation, diversity is more than a requirement of the company; it is a core value in the company and it is the companys way of life. It has specific policies that deal with workforce diversity and it ensures that it is part of the business human resource planning process. This is because it strives to represent to the whole world the kind of people it works with and the customers that they work towards satisfying (Target 2011). Evidence that Target implements its workforce diversity stems up from awards it has won for including people from multiple backgrounds in its workforce, and for developing supplier relationships with women owned businesses and minority vendors (Target 2011).
Target strives to abide by what its mission states in order to reach its vision that is to be the best retail store offering quality products and services for its customers. It also ensures that it practices business ethics from all perspectives by having strict policies that emphasize on ethics. Further it realizes that social responsibility is a requirement if it has to live in good terms with society and for it to have long term profitability.
Unlike the selling and production concept, the marketing concept emphasizes on the customer. That is, before a company can embark on producing products, it has to first identify what its customers need and desire of a companys products, and afterwards it can produce the products and then sell them to the customers (Drummond and Ensor 2005, p.1). The end result should be satisfied customers who are willing to make repeat purchases if not convincing other to purchase a companys products.
Where companies have to develop profitable relationships with customers, marketing proves to be an essential tool. Marketing is aimed at making customers aware of the products and services that the company has to offer and also shows how the company intends to meet customers needs (Kotler and Armstrong 2011, p. 4-5). The marketing concept is therefore important for businesses that want to establish good relationships with customers and which intend to have long term profitability.
Assessment of the external factors in the market environment that affect Target constitute the market research that it needs to carry out in order to satisfy itself that its marketing efforts are targeted at the right customers. Also it helps to ensure that the company comes up with the required marketing strategies which will eventually lead to successful marketing (Drummond and Ensor 2005). These external factors include:
Rising standards of living in America is one of the major economic changes that occur and affect a companys operations. The US economy is also occasionally faced with periods of recessions, which makes companies reduce prices so that they can continue making substantial sales. Target has managed to keep its prices at a fair rate and still have its sales increase over the years to 2011 (Target 2011).
The natural environment which includes resources used in production of products, water that occurs naturally and climatic changes, are a big influence on a company like Targets market environment. For instance, while planning on how products will reach customers, climatic changes should be considered as incidents such as heavy rainfall and storms can delay product delivery to the desired destinations, and this may affect service delivery to customers.
Analysis of the social and cultural trends is vital because companies need to know what their customers culture is all about. For a retail store the demands of society will mainly include its ability to sell products at affordable prices. This is unlikely to affect Target Corporations pricing strategies as it already sells its products for lower prices than most of its competitors (Target 2011).
Laws and regulations governing companies also change as time goes by. Environmental laws for instance can influence how a company does its product packaging, which is a major influence in appealing customers (Drummond and Ensor 2005). Target so far does not have any problems with packaging products because they mostly retail them rather than manufacture. However, laws relating to what can be advertised to the general public can influence their marketing strategies.
Advancements such as new production methods are likely to impact on the marketing strategy of a company (Drummond and Ensor 2005). Where the company uses sophisticated methods of production, it is likely that its marketing efforts will be vigorous to ensure that more people are aware of the effort it takes to provide quality foods. Target uses online resources to market products to customers, and to ensure that each customers demands are met it uses customized search engines. The company however needs to be constantly aware of any changes that may occur in technology so that the products are always up to date.
Target Corporations targets many customers because of the many products it sells to them. It therefore needs to target each age group and gender that is interested in buying its products. People are always demanding one product or the other from the company, be it kitchen appliances, automobiles, or even toys. Because of this wide target market the main strategy used by the company is a combination of differentiated and low cost strategies, where it strives to offer better services to customers than competitors can (Hoovers 2011). As a differentiation strategy, it introduced the groceries section in most of its stores so that customers can have a chance to purchase groceries without worrying about when they will pass by the groceries stores as is the culture of most Americans.
The main form of advertising media that the company uses is the television because through it more people become aware of what it has to offer. It also uses radio advertising and newspaper advertising to ensure that everyone has access to information about the company (Target 2011). Internet advertising is also a major form of advertising that it uses.
Globalization is the process by which people interact with others around the world without any restrictions (Steger 2010, p. 48). Globalization can be viewed from several dimensions, that is, in terms of cultural, political, technological, ecological, and economic globalization. A global economy involves a situation where companies in one country are allowed to trade freely with others across the globe, thus the concept of international trade. Economic globalization is possible when international trade is encouraged through reduction of trade barriers such as import quotas, tariffs and export charges (Steger 2010, p. 49).
Companies engage in international trade because they want to increase their sales through finding new markets for their products and services, continue to have sustained competitive advantage, minimize incidents of risks such as cyclical and seasonal effect on sales, and also to obtain resources that they are deficient in (Steger 2010, p. 50).
Target has not yet established itself fully as a global company because it only ventured to Canada recently and it is yet to see whether operating as a multinational company is a viable strategy to them (Target 2011). The main reason for establishing operations in Canada was to have its presence felt on a large scale so that it continues to have a competitive edge in the retail industry. Target Corporation chose to expand its operations to Canada because most of its non American customers are the Canadians. Further over 70% of Canadians were aware of its influence in the American states and would therefore serve as a better aIDitional market to them. In Canada, it sells the same products and services that it sells to its American customers.
It is not clear which strategy Target Corporation uses in Canada because of the recent expansion, but it should use a multinational strategy for Canada and future expansions, because of the nature of the business it deals in. This is because the parent company will have the final say in decision making and financial management while letting the subsidiaries manage their own marketing and sales strategies (Steger 2010).
To support their global strategy, Target will also have to use different business strategies depending on where they choose their operations. This is because using the same strategies worldwide without consideration of the markets may be disadvantageous if it wants to expand its market and make profits (Hoovers 2011).
Other generic strategic options available to Target would include:
Franchiser strategy where creation and design of products is done and financed in the home country but they are later produced and marketed in the host countries, this is usually recommended for companies in the fast food industry because their products are perishable and can not be produced solely in the home country. A domestic exporter strategy means that it has to centralize all its operations to take place in the United States; this strategy is mostly suitable for companies in the heavy equipment category. A transnational strategy on the other hand will mean that the company will have to adopt a global standpoint that does not work in accordance to national borders (Steger 2010). Target has not yet reached that point where it can operate without associating itself with the American way of life.
Looking at these challenges that the other global strategies pose for Target it is best that it uses the Multinational strategy as its goods are neither perishable nor are they heavy equipment.
Since Target has decided to go international it is best that it adopts the Canadian culture while operating there. This is because, according to some countries imported cultures are known to erode the ways of life of their people and bring confusion among individuals instead of harmony (Steger 2011).
It is important for Target to adopt and abide by the laws of Canada, and those of other countries in case it expands to other parts of the world, to avoid problems with legal bodies. It will have to ensure that it does not violate environmental, labor and taxation laws as these are some of the laws that multinationals commonly violate (Hoovers 2011).
Target engages in thorough analysis of its market environment to ensure that its marketing strategies are aimed at its customers and so that they create value for them. It uses a combination of low cost and differentiated strategies for different customers who visit different stores in the United States to ensure that they get the best for the money that they are willing to pay. It has also recently expanded operations to Canada to further its market so that sales are increased and so that it always has a continuous market for its products.
| Statement of financial position as 31st January 2010 and 31st January 2011 | |
| 2010 in $m | 2011 in $m |
| Current Assets | |
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