Modeling global facility location decisions: integrating marketing and manufacturing decisions

Rapid changes In today's global markets are forcing businesses to re-examine and improve the ways they compete. Integration of facility location decisions in global marketing and manufacturing strategies provides an important means for firms to compete in global markets. This paper proposes that manufacturing utility can be related to marketing utility through facility location decisions. Consequently, it presents a mathematical model for global facility location that integrates marketing and manufacturing decisions in a global context. It also presents a four-stage evolutionary model that can guide managers in making global facility location decisions.