Business Location
Business location refers to the physical site where a company operates. It is a critical factor that can significantly impact a business's success, as it influences customer accessibility, visibility, and operating costs. Choosing the right location involves considering factors such as target market proximity, competition, and local regulations.
4 Key excerpts on "Business Location"
eBook - ePub- Tom Craig, David Campbell(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...The Location of a Business DOI: 10.4324/9780080454603-6 Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, students should be able to describe: what is meant by the various dimensions of Business Location (micro-and macro-decisions); the principal factors that determine where a business is located; the relative significance of these factors for some types of industry. 6.1 What is a Business Location? This may seem a very straightforward question. The location of a business refers, in this context to its physical location; literally referring to the ground upon which the organisation mainly operates. We can examine this matter on a macro- or a micro-scale, the relevance of which will be different for different types of business. Macro-decisions are those concerning the location and physical organisation of a business in ‘big’ terms. For some companies, this will mean determining the countries, or even the continents in which the business will operate. For others, it may refer to which parts of this country the business should operate in. Such matters are generally considered to be strategic as they can have a significant effect on the success or failure of the business. Micro-decisions, as the name suggests, refer to location decisions taken once the macro-decisions have been made. It might be that a company decides to build a factory in Europe (the macro-decision), but it then needs to be decided which European country and which city in the chosen country is most suitable. For smaller companies, micro-decisions would concern the street on which to locate, or even which part of a given street. Macro-decisions in Business Location: GlaxoSmithKlinePlc GlaxoSmithKline was formed in January 2001 as a result of a merger between GlaxoWelcome and SmithKline Beecham. It is headquartered in the UK with operations in the USA. It is one of the industry leaders with an estimated 7% of the world’s pharmaceutical market...
- Pierre-Andre Julien, Pierre-Andre Julien(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...In agreement with the latter authors, it must be emphasized that a Business Location study is “more than a question of site”, since it must include an examination of financial and marketing aspects. In their words, “A location analysis is one of the components in a firm’s marketing strategy, and its importance is directly linked to the financial life of the business. A location analysis can be defined as follows: an analysis of a group of geographical, economic, sociological and cultural variables, designed to assess an existing location or to select the best possible location for meeting a retail business’s sales and profit objectives.” (p. 8, our translation) Locating a business involves answering, first, the following question: in which locality should the business or service be established? If the projected business will sell consumer goods, the range of possible sites is broader that it would be in the case of a specialized business or service. A bookstore requires a wider commercial area than a small grocery store. If the decision involves the selection of a locality (rather than of a specific site within a locality), the promoter can refer to the empirical results obtained using the central place theory or gravitation models. The financial and commercial aspects will probably, in such a case, be less important for an individual than for a firm seeking to establish affiliates. Personal factors, such as the place of residence, will probably play an important role in an individual promoter’s decision to establish a business in a given community. The real importance of location analysis has to do with the selection of the best site or the most advantageous location within a given locality, especially in an urban context...
eBook - ePubLocation, Location, Location
A Plant Location and Site Selection Guide
- Marcel De Meirleir(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...We shall also investigate the operational cost, a recurring location factor that includes labor cost, transportation cost, and the cost of utilities (including environmental protection) and taxes. The value of the locational cash flow table will be demonstrated in these chapters. In Chapter 6, the major intangible location factors are analyzed and their respective importances are demonstrated. After all, these factors make up the investment climate in which the company is going to operate in the country selected. In Chapter 7, the role of specific elements, notably ecology permits and costs and raw materials and services, in the locational decision is assessed. Feasibility studies are to be understood and evaluated before final conclusions are drawn. In Chapter 8, options are provided for locations now available to management. The communities and sites are fully analyzed and evaluated in light of the project requirements. Chapter 9 deals with decision making. In addition, recommendations are provided for the implementation of the location study. Let us be clear at the outset. The “ideal” location does not exist. Neither does the “ideal” person exist. All preferred sites have their merits and their drawbacks. Any location decision is the result of a compromise of factors. In forty years of handling more than 1,500 studies, only once did we come to the conclusion that our number one candidate was “it.” We could not find one single drawback. Unfortunately, the project, which involved an electric motor plant for the automotive industry, was never carried out due to the energy cost crisis of the early 1970s. The location decision for a production facility is one of the most important decisions that management faces. To make a mistake and decide on the wrong location, a location where the policies of the company cannot be carried out or where operating losses are detected only when it is too late, can have serious consequences...
eBook - ePubChinese Foreign Direct Investment
A Subnational Perspective on Location
- Tao Qu, Milford B. Green(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...A higher degree of unionization usually induces higher cost and complacency in the labor force on improving skills. Market factors Market as a locational factor is also well established within locational theory and international business approaches to foreign direct investment. Most empirical analyzes also find it the most important locational determinant. In locational theory, the market as a locational factor exerts its impact just like other localized elements: the deviation of the production location from the market will incur additional transportation cost. Within the domain of international business approaches to foreign direct investment, however, the notion of the market is treated in a quite different way. First, the cost of penetrating a market is not incurred mostly by transportation cost, but rather by tariff and other non-tariff government regulations. Second, which foreign market to enter depends mostly on its current size and growth potential with reference to the MNE’s overall strategic planning. As the spatial units of this book focus on subnational levels, the importance of the market factor as a location-specific variable may depend on several factors. These factors are the sizes of regional markets, their relative geographical locations, and the trade frictions among them. Given the political and institutional fabric in China, this level of spatial unit concerning market factors is at the provincial level. The location of a production unit entails not only where to produce, but also how much to produce and what technology to use. Given a certain technology, the size of the market is obviously the most important factor affecting the scale of production if the producer choses to serve local markets...
