Target Corporation

Description

Purveyor of all that is cheap, yet chic, fast-growing Target Corporation has bulked up by slimming down. The nation's #2 discount chain (behind Wal-Mart) now operates more than 1,500 Target and SuperTarget stores in 47 states, as well as an online business called Target.com. Target and its larger grocery-carrying incarnation, SuperTarget, have carved out a niche by offering more upscale, fashion-forward merchandise than rivals Wal-Mart and Kmart. After years of struggling to turn around its Marshall Field's and Mervyns departments stores divisions, the discounter sold them both in 2004. Target also owns apparel supplier The Associated Merchandising Corp. and issues Target Visa and its proprietary Target Card.

Sony

Description

All eyes are on Sony -- or, more likely, on its high-profit PlayStation home video game systems. While PlayStation ousted Nintendo from the top spot in the game market in the mid-1990s, the release of PlayStation3 in late 2006 was disappointing. Sony, one of the world's top consumer electronics firms, also makes a host of other products, including digital and video cameras, Walkman stereos, and semiconductors; these products account for nearly two-thirds of the company's sales. Sony's entertainment assets include music (Sony BMG Music and Epic), motion pictures (Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Pictures Digital), DVDs (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), and TV programming (Sony Pictures Television).