Target Corporation is America based retail corporation. The store is considered as 8th biggest retailer in United States. It is also a component of S&P 500 Index. Target is known to be a general merchandise retailer and it has stores all over United States. Almost 75% of the United States population lives around 10 miles of the Target store. The store employees are over 350,000 people (Target Corporation, 2020).
VRIO Analysis of Target Corporation
VRIO analysis is an analytical tool which enables the company to evaluate the capabilities and resources. The components of VRIO analysis are Value, Rarity, Imitability and Organization. These components help the company in achieving sustained competitive advantage. Here is the detailed VRIO analysis of Target Corporation.
Value
The first component of the VRIO model is identifying the valuable resources. These resources and capabilities help the company in achieving the competitive advantage which helps in exploiting the opportunities and mitigate the threats. Target Corporation is a well-known brand in United States that goes hand in hand with quality. The resources and capabilities of Target corporation have been changed over the period of time and now becomes the strength of the company. the company has undoubtedly best innovation skills. Target is not known for working on old methods and concepts, t changes its operations according to the market changes. The company is known as trendsetter in fashion industry, services and product quality with reasonable prices (Semurphy, 2016).
Rarity
Rare resources and capabilities are very important for the company to achieve competitive advantage. If the resources will not be rare, every competitor will use it in their own benefit and exploit opportunities. Rare resources indicate towards few or one company owning any specific resources. Target Corporation has maintained its company value as being top competitors among rivals for many years. The company is more ahead in the game when it comes to 3d printing. Target Corporation is known to be only retailer with the rapid prototyping capabilities. The company looks and observes the market keenly and provide the services and products according to the customer demands (Google sites, 2020).
Imitability
Third component of the VRIO model is imitability. This component deals with resources being difficult to duplicated or hard to find the alternative for. The strategy of Target Corporation may be easily imitated but the company protects it by remaining unique. The company has developed its own styles which are unique, and competitors will take time to replicate it. The company has more than 200 patent products. It also works hard in maintaining the quality of the brand and different from rivals. Moreover, target corporation has efficient and quick supply chain network which helps the company in running the operations smoothly (Semurphy, 2016).
Organization
The last component of the model is Organization. To achieve the sustained competitive advantage, it is necessary for the company to achieve all four components of the model. The resources are needed to be organized or else they will not be beneficial for the company. Target Corporation has set itself aside by offering customers to “Expect more, Pay less”. The company believes in making the consumers feel invited and welcomed. This strategy has provide the company with multiple advantages over the competitors. It believes that its brand recognition is achieved by organizing its resources. It has organized and well managed inventory system, and management. The company has hired talented staff who works dedicatedly for the benefit of the company (Saguy, 2012).
Conclusion
VRIO model helps the company in achieving sustained competitive advantage which strengthens the position of the company in industry. Target Corporation is one of the famous retailer and merchandiser in America. The company understands the market and consumer demands and changes in the pattern and respond accordingly.
Resource/Capabilities |
V | R | I | O | |
Supply Chain | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Competitive Parity | |
Inventory management | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Sustainable Competitive advantage |
Brand Equity | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Sustainable competitive advantage |
Marketing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Sustainable advantage |
Product quality | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Sustainable Competitive advantage |
Product range | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Sustainable advantage |
Talented HR | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Competitive parity |
References
Google site, 2020. VRIO analysis. [Online], Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/walmartvstargetsar2/vrio-analysis, [Accessed on: 1st May, 2020].
Saguy, D. 2012. Strategy Analysis Target vs K mart. [Online], Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/dansaguy/competitive-a, [Accessed on: 1st May, 2020].
Semurphy, 2016. VRIO framework of the Target Corporation. [Online], Available at: https://medium.com/@semurphy/vrio-framework-for-the-target-corporation-6aa8f834cdc4, [Accessed on: 1st May, 2020].
Target Corporation, 2020. About us. [Online], Available at: https://corporate.target.com/about/, [Accessed on: 1st May, 2020].