In business, this is a product, remote office, employee, etc., who doesn't get respect. The moniker stems from the popularslang phrase "beat you like a red-headed stepchild." Often times, the disrespect is undeserved.
If a product is an embarrassment to a company, it is the company's red-headed stepchild.
The satellite office was outperforming the head office statistically, but because it created work for people in the head office, it was treated like a red-headed stepchild.
Because the Edsel didn't sell well, it became Ford's red-headed stepchild.
A term that originated out of the common mistreatment and social ostracism of redheaded individuals (gingers). A redheaded individual born into(legitamately or not), or adopted into a family of non-redheads was typically subject to physical and emotional abuse, and usually short handed when it came to financial matters in the family, such as the estate or any savings the family had acquired. Today, the term can be applied to an individual or group of individuals who are outcasts, or are typically dealt the worst hand in society.