Target Canada: An Analysis of the Failure from a VP's Perspective

This report provides an analysis of Target Canada's failure, focusing on the perspective of the Vice President of Marketing of Sales. It examines external factors like store location, pricing issues, and competition from Walmart. The report also analyzes Target's strengths, including its merchandise a...Read More

Running Head: TARGET CANADA
Target Canada
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

1TARGET CANADA
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
External Factors.........................................................................................................................2
Strength......................................................................................................................................3
Resource available.....................................................................................................................3
Personal SWOT of the VP of Managing of Sales......................................................................4
Management failure...................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The report seeks at providing an analysis of certain functional areas of the company
‘Target Canada’ and from the perspective of the Vice President of the marketing of Sales
present an outlook, how the areas of the president’s responsibility has contributed to the
failure of the Target in Canada. In order to furnish the analysis it would be crucial to present
a study of the company keeping in concern the aspect of the external factors along with the
strength of the company and the resources available to the company. The report would also
include a personal SWOT analysis that would allow the report to establish the contribution of
the individual towards the failure of the Target Canada. The consideration would also be
made towards the organizational behavior, as it was evident within the organization.
External Factors
In order to map contribution of certain external factors leading to the failure of the
Target in Canada. The following section enlists a discussion of the issues that contributed.
1. One of the important factor that had led to the fall of the Target can be noted in the
location of the store, which was not ideal for the flourishing of the organization. In the
year 2011 a huge number of stores were being bought by the Target, which was
calculated to the number of 120. A considerable section of these stores were hardly
accessible to a large section of customers. The location of the stores inculcated a huge
amount of money that did not appear beneficiary for the organization. The location
were not favorable in order to establish the trademark of the company in the area
where it was seeking to establish.
2. There was a huge number of complaints from the huge section of the customer base of
Target that the price of the products of the target was higher in Canada as compared to
US.

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3. The third factor of drawback of the organization was its inability to empower its
stocks properly and enhance the functioning of the supply chain.
4. The company also faced a huge amount of competition from competitors like the
Walmart. The establishment of the Walmart was achieved by the entry of the
organization in the market in a considerable earlier period and their investment in the
pricing.
5. Overambitious attributes of the Target can be considered as one of the option that
contributed to the fall of the company as it opened up nearly 120 stores within a
period of 10 months (bstrategyhub.com, 2019).
Political The conflict with the Chinese market might proven
detrimental as a huge number of products arrive from the
Chinese market.
Economical The organization had to face a loss of $5.4 billion in each
of 4 month
Social Has a positive company culture to attract the potential
customers
Technological The organization has a tremendous control over technology
and the social media that allowed it to attract a huge
customer base, especially the millennial
Legal The organization need to abide by the environmental laws,
privacy and security related law and the environmental
laws
Environmental Exhibited a competence to the health conscious customers
by providing organic food
Strength
1. One of the primary strength of the Target was invested in its wide range of
merchandise, which they failed to supply to the newly launched retail stores.
2. The high quality of the product those were in trend or fashion was also an additional
factor in giving it a front foot.

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3. As compared to its prime competitor the Walmart, the organization is noted to have
provided its customers with a greater experience in terms of shopping.
Resource available
1. The crucial resources those were available to the Target was that of the designer
apparels furnished from the eminent designer. The fashionable apparels were the
source of earning the organization 20% of their revenue.
2. Their partnership with Starbucks enhanced the customer base of the Target.
3. The efficient distribution system of the organization where there were a collaboration
between 40 distributers dispersed over its target location.
4. Target’s application based system was enough to attract a considerable portion of the
customers obsessed with technology (canadianbusiness.com, 2019).
Personal SWOT of the VP of Managing of Sales
Strength
To work with a huge group of people
Effectively manage the supply and the sales
in the retails crucially
Identifying the competitive weakness of the
organization and the employees
Boost the production
Weakness
Time management
Work on different aspects at the same time
Over ambitiousness
Uncontrollable exercise of power
Opportunity
Enhance the functioning of the sales
department
Accelerate the process on several front more
effectively
Threats
The exercising of the uncontrollable power
is capable of disrupting the function of the
team
Over ambitiousness led to the shift of
concern from the loopholes of the Target’s
functioning.

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Management failure.
In terms of the loopholes or the failures on the part of the management can be noted in
the disruption in the function of the supply chain on different fronts. Over ambitiousness of
the managerial team lead to the overlooking of the crucial aspect in terms of the supply of
their product to the leading stores. Along with that the operational problem of the
organization was highlighted by the employees themselves. Along with that, the organization
had to inculcate a huge amount of cost that would be involved in the delay of the setting up of
the store. The failure of the operational team can be noted in the miscommunication or lack
of communication in the behavior of the members of the organization (stockwatch.com,
2020).
As a sales manager the failure of the individual is invested in the person’s incapability
to conduct proper analysis of the loopholes that might be invested in the expansion of the
retail in a shorter period of time in a greater rate. The failure was also invested in the over
ambitious nature of the sales marketing VP which eventually got passed into the members of
team. As a manager it would have been crucial to concentrate upon the long term benefits as
compared to the short term achievements. The loopholes of the operational team could have
been mitigated in order to manage the supply and the retail process effectively (hbr.org,
2019).
Conclusion.
Thus, in conclusion it can be stated that the lack of the communication and the
awareness among the members of the organization had acted as an influential factor in
guiding the course of flaws that finally resulted in the failure of the organization in its
endeavor to set up the multiple retail stores a same time.

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References
canadianbusiness.com. (2019). The Crazy Story of What Really Went Wrong at Target
Canada. Retrieved 22 February 2020, from https://www.canadianbusiness.com/the-
last-days-of-target-canada/
bstrategyhub.com. (2019). Retrieved 22 February 2020, from
https://bstrategyhub.com/targets-swot-analysis/
hbr.org. (2019). Why Target’s Canadian Expansion Failed. Retrieved 22 February 2020, from
https://hbr.org/2015/01/why-targets-canadian-expansion-failed
stockwatch.com. (2020). U-CBDY. Retrieved 22 February 2020, from
https://www.stockwatch.com/Quote/Detail.aspx?symbol=CBDY&region=U