I have to disagree here. Cornell has identified major issues with the Target structure in both people and process. Our HQ staff has been too large, and no CEO has wanted to cut them. If you read employee reviews about Corporate, they can tell you exactly how much time is wasted (times 15,000 employees at the time). If they have to get cut down to 10,000 and learn to be more efficient, now is the time. The stores were the ones that suffered in the past with these cuts, and its time to stop slicing them down. Sure, there will be a learning curve at HQ and the remaining ones will have to work harder instead of having weekly statuses and team building exercises which will affect the stores for a while, but its a band aid that needed ripped off. I find it funny that anybody here would oppose lay offs at HQ.
Secondly, Cornell has been clear on his vision on where we need to grow and how. The stores are meant to drive online sales more than they ever have, and to get Target.com at least onto the map when it comes to sales online (which we hardly had ever done). He wants us to assist with logistics (ship from store) and the remodels that are coming down (Electronics Experience, Baby 360, and Home Reinvention) are helping set up departments that guests can shop and purchase online if wanted.
To recap, he is cutting HQ instead of stores and investing into stores to support the online market place....