Assignment Objectives

Upon successful completion of this assignment, students will accomplish the following objectives:

Use the vocabulary of business correctly in both oral and written communications.

Obtain and properly cite information related to the profession using traditional and electronic sources.

Analyze a business decision-making situation and identify and apply the legal and ethical concerns and social responsibilities that may arise from it.

Student Learning Outcomes

Obtain and properly cite information related to the profession using traditional and electronic sources.

Analyze a business situation and recommend a solution or plan for improvement.

Assignment Details

This assignment requires students to do the following tasks:

Read the article enclosed with this assignment.

Read and understand the requirements.

Do additional research and find out more information on the topic from other sources.

Based on your findings and the information provided, prepare your response. Be sure to refer to the grading rubric to get a clear understanding of what is expected in the paper.

At the end of your paper, include a list of references in MLA format consisting of at least two (2) sources.

Submission:

This assignment is due on or before April 09, 2023, on CANVAS only. Make sure the file you upload is readable, its safest to use PDF.

No late submission will be accepted.

No Emailed/Printed/Hand Written submission will be accepted.

Grading:

This assignment will be graded according to the guidelines provided in the attached rubric.

Students are expected to go over the rubric and get a clear understanding of what is expected in their answers.

Important things to keep in mind:

Follow the "how you will critically analyze this case" guideline.

Present your points in an articulate manner.

Refer to the grading rubric.

Use Times New Roman Font (size 12).

Be sure to follow MLA citation guidelines (in-text as well as in the list of references).

Refrain from plagiarism, as it will NOT be tolerated. Go over the syllabus guidelines on plagiarism.

Less is more. Emphasize QUALITY over QUANTITY. Be to the point.

What to do for this assignment:

Critically analyze Target's business decisions during the pandemic and how they can impact/are impacting three business objectives: - growth, profits, and survival in the year 2023.

Include a list of references in MLA format at the end of the paper, consisting of a minimum of two (2) outside sources.

What is a critical analysis?

Being a critic calls for evaluating a particular content/outcome/process based on certain standards.

Being an analyst calls for examining the content/outcome/process in detail.

Critically analyzing a situation is quite similar to evaluating someone's work based on certain standards and presenting your feedback in a logical & understandable manner.

How you will critically analyze this case

For this case, your analysis should have the following characteristics:

Introduction: It should begin with an introductory paragraph that briefly talks about what is coming ahead in the body of the text. Here you will introduce the case, and then state that you will be analyzing target's business decisions during the pandemic and how they are impacting or can impact the three business objectives - growth, survival, and profits. Do not summarize the case. Make sure you use bold font to highlight keywords growth, survival, and profits. (3-5 sentences).

Body: It should break down the analysis into three separate paragraphs, each one dedicated to a specific business objective. Each paragraph should have a heading. For example, when writing your thoughts about Target's growth potential, use the heading "Growth" before beginning the paragraph. Follow the same for survival and sustainability. (3 paragraphs; 5-7 sentences for each paragraph).

Conclusion: The paper should end with a conclusive paragraph that provides suggestion(s) for Target. (3-5 sentences).

The Article

Target just went from great to bad to ugly. But the worst may be over

New YorkCNN Business Target just demonstrated how quickly things can change in the world of retail, posting a terrible quarter after nearly two years of soaring profits and record revenue growth. But the big box retailer is promising things will change in the other direction just as fast.

Target was widely seen as one of the winners of the pandemic, gaining new customers as shoppers not wanting to go into brick-and-mortar stores were drawn to its growing curbside pickup and home delivery.

But after a disappointing fiscal first quarter when profits fell 40%, Target just had an even worse second quarter. Profits plunged 90% compared to a year earlier.

Inflation-weary shoppers shifted to buying essentials such as food and gas rather than nonessential general merchandise that is central to Targets sales and profits. It was a stark contrast to larger rival Walmart (WMT), which posted only a narrow drop in profits for the quarter.

But many analysts believe Target is still in a good position going forward, that its not at risk of joining some of the other pandemic winners who are now struggling, like online retailer Wayfair (W). Friday it announced it had to cut 5% of the staff due to expanding too fast during the good times.

Targets profit plunge came from the deep discounts it had to offer on much of its general merchandise, such as clothing, electronics, and home goods. The hit to earnings from such deep discounting was unavoidable. But company executives insist it was the right choice.

Consider the alternative: we could have held on to excess inventory and attempted to deal with it slowly, over multiple quarters or even years. While that might have reduced the near-term financial impact, it would have held back our business over time, said CEO Brian Cornell to investors. The vast majority of the financial impact of these inventory actions is now behind us. He predicts a meaningful improvement in operating margin rates in the fall season.

Many analysts agree that Target did the right thing by taking the hit. Several say the sudden shift in consumer buying habits was not the fault of miscalculation by management.

All last year the supply chain was very, very tight. Stores were out of stock of many items. They were ordering for a level of demand that was very reasonable, said Bobby Griffin, retail analyst at Raymond James. Then there was a very fast change in consumer behavior.

Discretionary purchases being made by consumers shifted away from goods to things like travel, Griffin said.

Other experts say that Target management wasnt quite blameless for being caught with too much of the wrong inventory.

My sense is that this [problem at Target] was 70% about consumer behavior and 30% miscalculation related to inventory, said Eric Schiffer, a chief investment officer of Los Angeles-based private equity firm, The Patriarch Organization.

There is some hope for all retailers that they could benefit from the large, steady decline in gas prices over the last two months.

The national average price of gasoline has dropped $1.11, or 22% to $3.91 since hitting a record of $5.02 on June 14. It has fallen every day since. That should save households $100 a month on average. And wholesale gasoline futures point to even lower gas prices ahead in the coming weeks and months.

Target was always going to have more problems with a sudden shift in consumer spending than Walmart. Walmart has more than half of its sales from grocery while Target is closer to 20% said Owen Chen, retail analyst at Cowen. Walmart also had to offer sales on its nonessential general merchandise in the quarter.

And Walmart has always competed more on low prices, an advantage at a time when even middle and higher-income shoppers are concerned about higher prices. Walmart executives reported it saw more business from those upper-income households in the most recent quarter, a statement that cheered its investors.

But Chen said the numbers indicate that they did not get those higher income shoppers from Targets traditional customers.

I think that Targets [store] traffic numbers show it did a good job holding onto their customers, he said. The number of customers making purchases at Target was up 2.7% compared to a year ago in the just-completed quarter. And thats more than a 20% increase since the same period of 2019, ahead of the pandemic.

Target shares have underperformed some of its rivals, falling 28% so far this year, compared to only a 5% decline at Walmart. Schiffer said he wouldnt be surprised to see the slide in Target shares continue, as he believes they are overvalued by as much as 30%. But he doesnt think that means Target is badly positioned for the future.

I would stay the course, he said. The pace of growth during the pandemic was never going to be sustainable. Theyll still grow, just not as fast.