In the News

• In December of 2013, Target suffered a security breach, where 110 million of their

customers were victims to hackers that targeted the store a year earlier. Credit card and bank card information was stolen. Target has taken a hit in sales due to the theft and has made efforts to secure customer information and preserve their relationship with customers who were affected.
• I chose two articles from the NYtimes.com on the incident. One showing some of Target’s vulnerability before the incident and leading up to it. This article, “Target Missed Signs of a Data Breach” by Elizabeth Harris and Nicole Perlroth, will reveal Target’s weaknesses before the external events took place to affect the internal environment, profitability and signs they chose to ignore to prevent the breach. The second article, “To Regain Trust Target Must Do More Crisis Experts Say” by Hillary Stout, covers public opinion and expert opinion on Targets management performance over the crisis.
• The material is relevant to the course content because it covers objectives in Week 2 from chapters 2 and 3 from the text covering internal and external environmental factors. It also shows management strategy and approach to crisis.
Managerial Implications
• Target serves as an example to its competitors. Their approach to this crisis is under observation and scrutiny. Analyzers agree with Target’s approach and agree that target has taken the correct steps in managing the crisis by first disclosing the incident.
• This material is CI and its data can help any firm in the retail industry trying to rank with competitors. Targets sales dropped 2.5% during the 4th quarter of 2012 now the security breach during the fiscal quarter of 2013 shows a slow recovery for Target in the first quarter in 2014.
• Target spent $61 million in the 4th quarter on issues related to the breach.
• Target’s crisis in