From my personal experience, hard as hell (read: failed). Though companies can successfully do it, absolutely. I met one company that was 1 block away that had really impressive operations. They were supposed to be the offshore branch for a European company but the European company essentially disappeared and they were running the entire thing offshore with a couple marketing staff left in Europe. All the knowledge and experience ended up transferring entirely to the offshore operation. A few of the top managers moved over and they are recognized as one of the top companies in their industry. I wish I had more time there to learn what they did and how they managed it, sadly, I didn't.