US-based retail giant Target Corporation (Target) announced in mid-January 2015 that it was going to terminate its operations in Canada by closing down all its 133 stores in the country. The move would cost 17,500 jobs locally. Analysts attributed Target’s decision to quit Canada to poor supply chain management and a faulty pricing strategy. Target’s Canadian venture had incurred operating losses of more than US$2 billion since it entered the country in 2013.

Target’s CEO Brian Cornell (Cornell) opined that the decision to quit Canada was taken after the company realized that its operations in the country would not become profitable until at least 2021. He also felt that the exit from Canada would stop Target’s continued losses and help the company focus on its strategic initiatives in the US (Refer to Exhibit I). Cornell said, “The Target Canada team has worked tirelessly to improve the fundamentals, fix operations and build a deeper relationship with our guests. We hoped that these efforts in Canada would lead to a successful holiday season, but we did not see the required step-change in our holiday performance.” ..

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