Question 1

Is Starbucks Coffee a user of Geographic Information Systems? Support your answer with examples.

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Question 2

Consider the list of Key Success Factors in your textbook.Why do some items appear at the country level only,while others are present at both country and regional levels? Select one KSF as an example,and use it in your discussion.

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Question 3

Service location strategies and goods-producing location strategies rely on very different sets of assumptions.What are the assumptions associated with goods-producing locations? How do these assumptions lead to a location strategy?

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Question 4

How do service facility location decisions differ from industrial location decisions in terms of the techniques used to analyse them?

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Question 5

What is the impact of exchange rates on location decisions?

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Question 6

What is the role of labour productivity in location decisions? Why is it more important than low wages in location decisions?

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Question 7

Identify those factors identified in the textbook as creating legal or ethical issues for operations mangers as they analyse location decisions.

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Question 8

A manufacturing company preparing to build a new plant is considering three potential locations for it.The fixed and variable costs for the three alternative locations are presented below.
a.Complete a numeric locational cost-volume analysis.
b.Indicate over what range each of the alternatives A,B,C is the low-cost choice.
c.Is any alternative never preferred? Explain.

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Question 9

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the use of factor-rating schemes?

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Question 10

A clothing chain is considering two different locations for a new retail outlet.The organization has identified the four factors listed in the following table as the basis for evaluation,and has assigned weights as shown on the right side of this table.The manager has rated each location on each factor,on a 100-point basis (higher scores are better),as shown in the right-hand table.
a.Calculate the composite score for each alternative location.
b.Which site should be chosen?
c.Are you concerned about the sensitivity and subjectivity of this solution? Comment.

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Question 11

"Proximity" or closeness implies that a firm should locate "close" to something.What are the three kinds of proximity described in the text? What are the basic conditions under which each is appropriate? What kinds of firms are likely to use each of these?

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Question 12

A farmers' cooperative association plans to build a new sugar mill in Southwestern Louisiana.The primary objective of the mill is to provide the farmers with a place to take their crop for processing that will reduce their transportation costs.The members of the co-op believe that the centre-of-gravity method is appropriate for this objective.While there are over 200 sugar cane farms in the region,they are tightly clustered around six villages.Using the data below,use the centre-of-gravity method to calculate the coordinates of the best location for this mill.On the grid below,plot the location of the six farm clusters and the calculated mill location.All mileage references use the city of Lake Charles as (0,0).

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Question 13

Identify five factors that affect location decisions at the site level.

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Question 14

What kinds of location decisions are appropriate for use of crossover analysis? Write a brief paragraph explaining how crossover analysis (break-even analysis)can assist an operations manager choose among alternative sites in making a location decision.

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Question 15

How does the Starbucks Coffee case illustrate the general principles of service location strategy?

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Question 16

Consider the list of Key Success Factors in your textbook.From items on that list,select two which might involve ethical issues or issues of social responsibility,and cite a possible example of each.Write a brief explanation of each of your examples.Cite and describe a third example,from an area not covered by the KSFs.

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Question 17

Identify the four major quantitative methods for solving location problems.

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Question 18

Why is "quality of life" an element of intangible costs associated with location decisions? Provide an example as part of your discussion.

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Question 19

What kinds of location decisions are appropriate for use of centre-of-gravity analysis? What variable is being optimized in this analysis?

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