“…It is not performing the development work in itself that is considered unfair or problematic but rather the fact that the performance of all plants is only evaluated on KPIs such as cost per part or similar which, of course, is higher for the lead plant if it bears all the costs and resources for development activities, even though it is of benefit to all the plants in the network. So, while it is important to realise that the lead factory role is not static, as the role of offshored sites is likely to be upgraded and entail new capabilities (Adeyemi et al 2014;Ferdows 1997aFerdows , 2006, the lead factory role is, and should be, subject to ongoing evaluation. The lead factory must, therefore, be able to motivate its appointment by showing the value it creates in the network.…”