Regional office

From CEOpedia | Management online

Regional office - this is a kind of a branch of the company, in the territory of which it conducts its sales.This is an area that is not directly served by the head office or headquarters of the company. Very often it is run by a branch manager or regional director. A given model is most often used by insurance companies, which together with their staff, agents and brokers delegate them to the appropriate branch manager. They then have an incentive to sell in a given territory and to expand their customer base. However, it should not be forgotten that the regional office will always be under the care of the main company and will be obliged to report on its activities.

Setting up a regional office

Establishing a regional office is not an easy task. Very often branch manager is chosen from among employees working in the main office territory. However, such a person must not only be at a high level of personnel management skills, but must also express the willingness to relocate to another town, usually much smaller. In addition, legal separation of branches is not an easy task either. The maintenance of the ownership structure by the main office requires, first of all, that such activity be reported to the relevant authorities. In addition, an agreement is needed that directly defines the obligations of such a branch and its right to hold a share in the profit [1].

Regional office may be divided into:

  • subsidiaries
  • branches
  • affiliates

Finally, organisational separation should lead to the establishment of appropriate structures responsible for conducting sales, recruitment and marketing policies.In smaller towns and cities there is usually a shortage of qualified staff to deal with these issues. As a result, it is not often the case that a regional office is able to generate some significant profits individually. They work more on the brand of the whole company on a national scale, through consolidation of the customer base and polarization and diffusion activity [2].

Managing regional office

Regional office management obliges the branch manager to continuously consult the initial activities with the headquarters of the brand. The reason for this is that such a company should retain a corporate identity that allows consumers to be identified with the brand on a national or international basis. With this in mind, the regional office management should be characterised by a constant attention to detail. Despite achieving appropriate sales results, the branch manager should make both customers and employees aware of the brand under which they are currently located [3]. Additionally, in accounting terms, it should be noted that most of the expenses or profits are generated in connection with the main office's economic activity, which makes it partly responsible for tax and civil liabilities of the main office.

Footnotes

  1. Bach, M. P., Popovic, A., Vuksic, V. B.,(2013), p.613-619
  2. Huisman, J., Shams, F., (2012), p.106-127
  3. Levchenko, A. S., Nikitina, E. A., Rudychev, A. A., (2013), p.1707-1710


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References

Author: Kinga Adamska