Everything is a cost center, since costs must always be allocated. In this case, we're talking about something being only a cost center, since there's no revenu

Everything is a cost center, since costs must always be allocated. In this case, we're talking about something being only a cost center, since there's no revenue center associated to it. If you stop calling it "cost center" and decide to call it "pure awesomeness ninja center" won't make a difference, people will just attribute the same meaning to the new word. On your point on competitiveness, I completely agree, just like HR having awesome hiring and retention policies can do miracles for a company, even if it's just a cost center. Legal too, for any major corporation legal is just a cost center, but one that routinely saves the company from total obliteration. Being a cost center or a revenue center has no relation to the relevance of the people involved.