Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management, Twelfth Edition

The Strategic Importance of Location

World markets continue to expand, and the global nature of business is accelerating. Indeed, one of the most important strategic decisions made by many companies, including FedEx, Mercedes-Benz, and Hard Rock, is where to locate their operations. When FedEx opened its Asian hub in Guangzhou, China, it set the stage for “round-the-world” flights linking its Paris and Memphis package hubs to Asia. When Mercedes-Benz announced its plans to build its first major overseas plant in Vance, Alabama, it completed a year of competition among 170 sites in 30 states and two countries. When Hard Rock Cafe opened in Moscow, it ended 3 years of advance preparation of a Russian food-supply chain. The strategic impact, cost, ...