ODC
An offshore development center is a dedicated team in another country working exclusively for one client, usually hosted and administered by a local partner.
The partner provides the entity, office, payroll, and recruitment; you provide the roadmap and, in most arrangements, the technical leadership. It sits between staff augmentation and opening your own subsidiary: more permanent than contractors, less committing than an entity of your own.
When it fits
When it does not
What it costs
Partner fees typically add 15 to 30 percent on top of local salary cost, still well below onshore rates at scale.
Below roughly five people, augmentation is simpler and cheaper. Above eight, an ODC usually wins on retention and knowledge continuity.
You should, contractually and in practice, from day one. If a partner resists that, treat it as a serious warning.
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