Fostering a High-Performance Culture in Offshore Software Engineering Teams Using Balanced Scorecards and Project Scorecards

India is a preferred location for global software development. To be successful in India over the long run, captive units of multinational corporations (MNCs) need to overcome several challenges. For example, they must be able to attract and retain talent and attain a critical mass in terms of team size. A captive unit must also continually get work that demands advanced competences, from its partners. This necessitates demonstrating excellence, which in turn requires a high-performance culture. We share our experience in fostering such a culture at a captive unit of a German MNC. We outline our concept to attract and retain talent. A performance measurement system that uses balanced scorecards and project scorecards to motivate excellence is described. In addition, we talk about a training program that equips our teams with the required knowledge and capabilities. The results of using this approach are presented.