Corporate Headquarters 2010

2010

For the fifth time in succession, we carried out our Corporate Headquarters study. 72 companies participated in this 2010 study – more international participants than ever before. As a continuous trend, companies are responding to increased complexity and cost pressure with further centralization. Shared services and outsourcing remain important tools for providing services efficiently – outsourcing has declined slightly overall, but certain functions use outsourcing more than ever. A certain discrepancy exists between the management concept claimed by companies and the actual approach practiced. Key questions concern the role of corporate headquarters and the added value it offers

Modern corporate headquarters are responding to the question of what role they play and what value they add by coming up with new approaches for dealing with growing complexity.

On the basis of our survey, we have developed five approaches to designing modern corporate headquarters

• Provide expert knowledge, e.g. through Centers of Excellence
• Manage services, e.g. through shared services and outsourcing
• Form strong entities, e.g. a corporate office
• Work in networks, e.g. in project teams
• Create a sense of identity, e.g. in terms of joint values

In doing so, modern corporate headquarters speed up decision-making and implementation processes, simplify structures, encourage creativity and promote cooperation through individual incentives