Facility location decision
Facility location is an important step that shows the organization has growth-oriented objectives for the purpose of satisfying the customers with products and services. For the organization to create a sufficient access to goods and services and gain the competitive advantage, it should make strategic decisions based on developing manufacturing unit in the right location (Sule, 2008). After coming up with the strategic decision, managers should consider several factors. Focusing on the case at hand, I have the responsibility as a manager to make decisions based on the location of the third restaurant in a suburb of a medium-sized city (Sule, 2008). The following is the information I will need from my employee before analyzing the location alternatives. I may need a lot of information but first of all, I will only require the important information or the main factors to consider;
- Political factors
Politics should be a key determinant in making decisions for facility location.This means that it is important to investigate whether the specific areas has favorable local government policies, whether the local government is stable and the consistency of policies (Sule, 2008). Some locations may have favorable regulation while others may keep on changing the rules and this may affect the business long-term decisions.
- Regulations
The organization that decides to analyze the location alternatives should know that there are many local government regulations that can affect the new firm. Thus, the employee should find out the rules and regulations and whether they will restrict the company from succeeding. I would need information regarding the compensation law, insurance law, environmental law, and the legal system (Sule, 2008).
- Attitudes
Population attitude is very important as it affects the company in a positive or negative way. Thus, I would like information regarding the community attitude to underhand whether the attitude will make the company or it will mar.
- Cultural and economic issues
I also need information regarding social factors such as cultural differences, demography, spending habits, cultural events and quality of life. In general, it is important to underhand the community in terms of the way people live and think.
- Competition
Selecting the location requires an understanding of the level of competition to evaluate whether the company will maximize profits and maintain the competitive edge.
- Market characterizes
Before analyzing the location alternatives, it is important to consider customers and market. Since the goal of locating the third restaurant is to serve customers, the employee should conduct a research and understand the potential markets, the purchasing power, the potential growth, and transportation costs (Sule, 2008).
Reference
Sule R. Dileep. (2008). Manufacturing Facilities: Location, Planning, and Design, Third Edition. CRC Press.