To Prof. Metildah ONLY

Today’s market is not an easy and straightforward as it used to be, that is why more and more businesses are taking extreme measures to ensure theirs survive. Some organizations are experiences many changes in culture, administration and even products and services have had to quickly evolve. All of this in order to keep up with the current situation. Many have perish but others have thrive in the face of change, and had used it as an opportunity to reinvent the company. In the following we will be evaluating two companies that have made it big, and we will be developing an environmental scan on each of them.

Target Overview

First we will start with Target Corporation, Target formerly Dayton Dry Good Company, was founded in 1902 by native New Yorker George D. Dayton in the Minneapolis area. In 1911 is renamed Dayton Company, to better reflect the broad variety of merchandise. In 1918 the Dayton Foundation was created with a donation of one million dollars. They continue expanding through the years and in 2000 they became the Target Corporation. Today they have stores in the all of United States, Alaska and Canada.

Target has been in the market for more than 100 years, so as a company they have experience many changes and have had to constantly evolve to accomplish what they have. An environmental scan will help us de-construct the pieces that made this possible and made a complete analysis of the company ("Target Through The Years", 2015).

Environmental Scan

The environmental scan is divided into the external and internal environments of the company. The internal environment focuses on employees and the inside forces that move Target. Target’s purpose is to provide fulfill the needs of their customers delivering outstanding value, innovation and exceptional prices (https://corporate.target.com/about/purpose-beliefs). The external environment consists of technological, legal, social, economic and political factors, and at Target these variables help shape the company year after years as time was passing. For example in 1881, Dayton sees a growing market and stars planning how he can take advantage of that growth, so after much evaluation he decides that Minneapolis gives him the best shot and decides to open his first store there ("Target Through The Years", 2015).

Target has created a foundation and community programs help teams to aid with societal issues like sickness, poor school facilities, and third world country issues. They have also have been influence by diversity issues, resulting in them coming out supporting equality and same sex marriage. This works as a marketing strategy, because it appeals to a former minority, currently gaining much recognition.

Competitive Advantage

Target has been in the market for over 100 years and the majority of the time was a family owned corporation. Its rapid growth was due their great customer service, help programs, quality merchandise, and great discount prices. Being one of the pioneers in department store and later discount stores gives them an advantage over their competition. Customers tend to be loyal with business they feel had become part of a community, and that have a social responsibility with the community. Another advantage Target has over its competitors is the quantity of stores they have all over the United States, Alaska and Canada. The feeling that a Target might be just around the corner to do last minute shopping, is a good feeling for its customers that are mostly composed of 30 to 40 years old, working adults with families.

Target Strategies to add value

Recently Target develop two new concepts of stores, Super Target that combines a department store with a grocery store, and City Target that combines the easy shopping experience of a regular Target with fast pace life of the city. Another strategy to gain advantage is the creation of Simply Balanced, a line of food “free of artificial flavors, colors, preservatives and 105 common food additive ingredients” ("Target Through The Years", 2015). Target stores have a more attractive look that many other department or discount stores, with bigger isles and drop ceilings, giving it a more sophisticated look. This strategy adds value, attracts more people and gives the shoppers a sense of added value to the merchandise.

Measurement Guidelines

Target is more focus on customer satisfaction and quality of service and merchandise, therefore the use customer surveys to learn about the general customer satisfaction rate. Potential markets are identified through extensive research of analyzing population growth, average household income, and average age of target customers. The measurement guidelines are effective and provide future strategic direction to the company. Prove of its effectiveness is the incredible growth of Target for more than 100 years, the fact that they open almost 70 stores every year, and the quality of the products and services they offer.

Overview of Walmart

Walmart was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton in Bentonville, Arkansas. In only 5 years he had already open 24 more stores and had made more than $12.7 million in sales. In 1969 the company was officially incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. By the 1990 Wal-Mart had more than 276 stores, 21,000 associates, and had reached $1 billion in annual sales. In 1994 they bought 124 Woolco stores in Canada to turn them into Wal-Mart stores ("Our History", 2015). Clearly Walmart’s growth has been the fastest of any other retail store in the US.

Environmental Scan

Due to the fact of the variety of locations for Walmart stores, like Mexico and China, they have to let the societal environment of the place the store is in guide the decisions of the market for that specific place. This means different markets, require different products, marketing strategies and a different set of laws and moral standards. Internal environment affecting the company will be the workforce, customers, and partners. They have a vision of a good work environment, though the pay and treatment to employees is often criticized. They also state that low prices guarantee is the motor behind Wal-Mart being the successful rapid growing company it is.

Competitive Advantage

The advantage Walmart has over other retailers is that its name is so famous, and they have had so much publicity either for good or bad things, that there is almost impossible that exist someone that has not heard of the stores. Is a very popular place to get anything, from groceries, produce, clothing for the whole family, stuff for your car, and medicines, all at the same place and sometimes at a 24 hour store. The fast growth of the company, the fact that it was family owned and that promotes low prices, has turned Wal-Mart in a cultural store in the United States.

Walmart Strategies to add value

Apart from opening stores in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, and China, Wal-Mart work to add value to its brand by donating to different causes an even having its own foundation. They also claimed to have enhance the sustainability of their operations and product supply chains for people and the planet ("Global Responsibility Report", 2015). They have also create the lower price guarantee tool, which allow customer to match the prices of their competitors. This is a great marketing strategy because it gives them the edge in competition for the lower prices.

Measurement Guidelines

Wal-Mart uses customer satisfaction surveys to ensure they have knowledge of how the general experiences of the clients are when shopping at Wal-Mart stores or Online. Walmart assess its position in the market by comparing to competitors by tracing growth capacities and by the analysis of financial statements. Demand and supply are analyzed for measuring operational efficiency. Regular assessments of inventory, customer satisfaction, and are also done to gauge effectiveness of strategic moves.

Conclusion

Both Target and Walmart are true pioneers in the field of discount stores, and though many people may see them as the same type of company, by doing this analysis we can understand their differences. Target is a more sophisticated experience, and is more preoccupied with keeping the discount store functional without affecting the quality of service, merchandise, and the general shopping experience of customers. While Walmart is more driven by money and its rapid growth, Target is more of a steady but sure growth. Both companies are a great influence in our society and surely will keep innovating towards the future.

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