Hudson's Bay Company Mission Statement

When one recalls numerous companies in North America, an endless list of organizations can be compiled, ranging from recent start-ups to historic organizations. Last year, I had an opportunity to gain knowledge in the corporate business field from the most historic company in North America. Hudson’s Bay Company(HBC), a department store retailer focusing on fashion apparel, accessories and home products, which was incorporated in 1670 and has ninety locations in Canada. This paper will explore HBC’s recent changes in a strategic direction as well as corporate level strategies and its implications with using relevant strategy typologies and Michael Porter’s competitive strategy frameworks. An organization is generally known as a group of

Owing to the fact that HBC is a parent company, which owns and operates Zellers, Home Outfitters, Lord & Taylor, Designer Depot and Sportarena, it has been challenging in order to manage all to be profitable. In 2013, Baker added one more company to its list, that HBC bought an American fashion apparel retailer Saks Fifth Avenue(Saks), and it is successfully opened in Toronto in 2016. Moreover, it is noticeable that HBC’s new CEO and management team seeks for a growth. According to company’s official goal, which is more commonly known as a mission statement, it states, “HBC targets $1.5 billion in incremental sales and revenue” (“About HBC”), that one of HBC’s main values is Growth-oriented. “We have a 900,000-square-foot store in downtown Toronto,” Baker told the Financial Post after buying HBC in 2008 from American investor Jerry Zucker. “It’s not productive. Instead of having anemic sales in this building that’s too big, why not do something truly exciting?” (Shaw, Financial Post). Additionally, and luckily, Torontonians want Toronto to be more modernized, wherein 2016 John Tory a Mayor of City of Toronto has announced details of a plan to modernize Toronto, (Draaisma, "Tory announces the plan to improve service, save money"). Thus, HBC’s decision of buying and bringing Saks Fifth Avenue to Toronto, a modernized mall with an elegant atmosphere was a rewarding decision and

“The Miles and Snow’s typology is based on the idea that managers seek to formulate strategies that will be congruent with the external environment” (64). There are four types of strategies that can be established under this typology that is, the prospector, the defender, the analyzer and the reactor. While prospector is innovative and risky, the defender is conservative and concerned with stability. I have mentioned above that HBC is now able to compete with premium brands retailer due to an acquisition of Saks Fifth Avenue, and yet they are not utilizing low-cost leadership as their main competitive strategy. Nonetheless, Daft and Armstrong showcases a perfect example of the defender positioning using HBC’s case. “HBC has carefully monitored its margins and spending, maintained its discount brand (Zellers) in order to successfully compete with Walmart, and survived as one of Canada’s only two national department store” (65). Then they further describe how HBC refurbish its brand, “HBC hired Bonnie Brooks in 2008 to revamp its brand”, “She dropped many underperforming product lines and brought in trendy product lines such as Coach and Top Shop” (65). This explanation also supports my