Target Corporation
Target Corporation is an American based retailing company which began in the year 1902 under the name of Dayton Dry Goods at that time. It is a discount retailer and deals in clothing, food and house wares. In terms of revenue it is the fifth largest retailer in the United States. The company has always differentiated itself from its competitors such as Wal-Mart, Kmart, kohl’s, Big Lots in the country and has been successful in doing so (Mathis & Jackson, 2006).
Target is known to be a corporate responsible corporation and came at #11 ranks in the fortune 500 among the top most admired companies in US moreover its environmental friendly. The corporation has grown tremendously over the years by acquiring stores all over United States. The corporation is recognized by 96% of the US population. Till the year 2008 the corporation was employing around 366000 employees (Target Corporation, 2009). The US economy is having a sluggish growth so the company is looking forward to expand in the global markets. One of these countries could be its very own neighbor and trade partner Canada.
Discussion
When you expand in another country there are various factors that one needs to consider. These are such as the economy of the country you are expanding in, the purchasing power of the consumers, the exchange rate, the government laws and regulations, the prices of land and property, the availability of labor, the working environment, the culture, language barriers, and the local competition and so on. Considering these global issues is an integral part of the expansion plans because as a corporation your duty is to understand them and integrate these into your own organizational culture in order to gain success (Dessler, Griffiths, & Lloyd-Walker, 2004).
The human resource of an organization is the live blood of the business. By human resource we mean the employees of the company who can make and break an organization. A skillful, hardworking, creative, dedicated and motivated workforce can lead the organization towards success. Making them understand the organizational objective and integrating it with the corporate strategy is very important (Hill, 2009). Human resource management is controlling the activities of these employees in order to get the maximum output from them. When Target will expand in other countries there are several human resources issues that it will come across.
As the corporation expands worldwide they need a consistent workforce and for that you need to provide them training. Target will need to train these people for better performance and efficiency. If the country is expanding in a region where labor is cheap but the expertise and knowledge is scarce then it can give them a tough time. The cost of training or hiring employees from home country can be costly therefore while expanding such a country should be chosen that has a pool of literate labor (Hill, 2009). The company can have option of expatriate managers, which is when nationals of home country go and work abroad. Target can send their best employees to other nations but in deciding this you have to see which employee to chose and when. These employees might not be able to adjust in a foreign nation due to cultural shocks or differences in value or have difficulty in learning the foreign language (Armstrong, 2006).
If the employee settles then there can be problems if the government policy doesn’t let the immigrants to come and stay in their country or the employee can have difficulty in settling down due to personal reasons or family issues.
There are pay concerns like should the employee be paid the same amount as they are paid in the home country or according to the economic conditions of the host country (Hill, 2009). This can be a serious problem if the difference is wide. Then there are comparison of base salary and other benefits such as taxation, medical, housing and education which can differ too (Dessler, Griffiths, & Lloyd-Walker, 2004).
It is very important to choose the right kind of employee to fit the job description and the right country to expand in. When expanding in Canada Target can use geocentric approach which means that the best employees can be send to work in Canada because United States and Canada share more or less similar culture and religion and both the countries speak English as a language and the values and working practices are the same and both the countries are familiar with the food, entertainment and brands of one another (Hill, 2009). These things are important if foreign employees are expected to work in the host country. It is also important because the Canadian labor force will be able to understand their United States officials and their markets more than any other nation.
Conclusion
US and Canada enjoy a close relationship and share a trade history of tranquility and cooperation therefore Canada will be an ideal location if chosen as an option to be part of the global expansion strategy of Target. Canada has a high literacy rate and skilled labor therefore the corporation will not have labor issues (Target Corporation, 2009). Moreover Canada is not far from United States, they share the same border so it will be easier for employees to visit home if they belong to US. Target will face fewer challenges pertaining to labor if it expands in Canada rather than any other nation.
Works Cited
Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Dessler, G., Griffiths, J., & Lloyd-Walker, B. (2004). Human resource management, 2nd edn,.
Hill, C. W. (2009). Global Business Today 6e. The McGraw-Hill Companies.
Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. (2006). Human Resource Management. Virginia: Thomson South-Western.
Target Corporation. (2009). Retrieved April 10, 2009, from http://www.smartbrief.com/news/AAAA/companyData.jsp?companyId=213
