ABSTRACT
The role to be played by the Offshore Center head has long been an area of debate. Different companies follow different norms in this respect. At one extreme, some companies capitalize fully on the strengths of their Offshore Center heads by giving them complete responsibility, authority, and control over the Offshore Center teams and projects. At the other extreme, some companies run their Offshore Centers without a local head, with all the Offshore Center teams reporting directly to the head office (HO) management. This chapter begins by elaborating the factors that the company's top management should consider to decide the role, authority, and responsibilities of its Offshore Center head. It then describes various functions performed by a typical Offshore Center head, and shows how these functions map to the above factors. The chapter concludes by suggesting an approach to use to evaluate the performance of the Offshore Center head.
