During the 2013 holiday season, Target underwent a major crisis. Initially, Target officials announced that 40 million of Target customers had their credit and debit card information stolen as a result of computer hackers. Consumers were later informed that the impact of the data breach affected an additional 70 million customers and the depth of the breach included customer's personal information to include phone numbers and e-mail addresses. The result of this massive crisis caused Target's sales to decline, corporate layoffs and the inevitable end to the 35 year career of Target's CEO and President with the resignation of Gregg Steinhafel.
For this week's assignment, evaluate Target's communication strategy during the data breach using the factors as presented in the Situational Crisis Communication Theory.
Address the following:
Discuss how you believe Target's former CEO leader handled the crisis
Recommend a communications strategy for Target's new CEO, Brian Cornell.
Support your evaluation with a minimum of four (4) scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including older articles, may be included.
Length: 5-7 pages not including title and reference pages.