TABLE OF CONTENTS This chapter describes a new comprehensive approach for strategically selecting a new site for an organization. The approach allows decision makers to effectively match their organization's objectives and goals with the financial considerations of a new location.
The process of choosing a new location is much like that of any other business decision. First, management assesses the relative importance of the factors or attributes on which alternatives are to be evaluated. Second, management evaluates the attractiveness of the attributes of each alternative location, and finally, combines the attributes into an overall assessment of each alternative. Decision scientists can model this complete process to arrive at a list of best options.
Many Fortune 500 firms in making the site selection or relocation decision have formally applied this model. The model is able to answer the hard financial questions as well as the soft issues of selecting new sites in a single "apples to apples" comparison. The financial cost-benefit is only the first phase of the overall site selection methodology. In the final phase, other site selection drivers must be incorporated into the decision process, such as transportation...
