Where there’s smoke …

Retail sales week is always a little hectic, so it is not surprising that Target’s announcement about its 2,100 person operation in India got lost in the shuffle. The day before October sales were released, Target took what was an unusual move for the company and “strongly denied that it is engaged in any discussion, or has any plans, to sell its captive center.”

“Our captive center in Bangalore continues to be an important part of our long-term strategy and is highly integrated with our work and team in Minneapolis,” said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and CEO. “We remain firmly committed to this Target team and are proud of the work they do. Recent rumors about a sale are ridiculous speculation.”

Steinhafel may be sincere about Target’s commitment to India, but there is no way to know as the standard response of any corporate executive is to dismiss speculation about merger or acquisition activity right up to the point where an actual deal is announced. Not saying that’s the case with Target, but it hardly seems ridiculous to believe that at some point when Target was contemplating its future that someone in the finance department didn’t model some numbers to see what a transaction could look like.