There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “Man struggles upwards; water flows downwards.” In business, managers will find the cheapest place on earth to manufacture products or provide services. When the cheapest place is in another country, a company has to move its operations offshore. After moving offshore, a company still has to decide whether to set up a subsidiary (called a captive center) or entrust the business to other companies (outsourcing).

A captive center can exist in many forms. It can be wholly owned by the mother company, or it can be a joint venture with a local company. This book, more or less, is a response to an article published on CIO.com [1]. The book argues that “the destiny of captive centers is far from death. If anything, the captive center as a concept is in its infancy, and as a child it is learning to adapt and react to the environment.”

This book has two parts. The first part introduces the fundamentals of captive centers and explains various outsourcing models, including a detailed exposure of captive centers. It analyzes which countries are suitable for outsourcing, based on several factors, and predicts future trends in captive centers.

The second part is an empirical study of captive centers. The captive centers of six Fortune Global 250 companies are examined closely. Finally, a conclusion is given based on the studies presented; it’s the essence of the book.

For any company trying the captive center model, this is a good book for understanding the pros and cons. However, the book has some deficiencies. First, the global service location index (GSLI) used could be more up to date. Furthermore, the new trend of moving to the cloud, which could affect the outsourcing paradigm, should have been discussed.