Publications

February 2015
Article

Location Choices under Strategic Interactions

By: Juan Alcacer, Cristian Dezso and Minyuan Zhao

The literature on location choices has mostly emphasized the impact of location and firm characteristics. However, most industries with a significant presence of multi-location firms are oligopolistic in nature, which suggests that strategic interaction among firms... View Details

Keywords: Location Strategies; Multinational Strategy; Oligopolistic Competition; Firm Heterogeneity; Geographic Location; Multinational Firms and Management; Balance and Stability; Decision Choices and Conditions; Game Theory

September 2012 (Revised December 2013)
Supplement

Intel: Strategic Decisions in Locating a New Assembly and Test Plant (B)

By: Juan Alcacer and Kerry Herman

In February 2006, Intel has selected the location for its new assembly and test plant. This case discusses why this location was chosen from the list of possibilities introduced in "Intel: Strategic Decisions in Locating a New Assembly and Test Plant (A)." View Details

Keywords: Location Choices; Location Strategies; Strategy; Geographic Location; Global Strategy; Technology; Technology Industry; United States; Viet Nam

August 2013
Case

Desi Shack: Location Choice in the Big Apple

By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

Desi Shack is a “fast casual” restaurant, started by two HBS alumni, that serves Indian and Pakistani cuisine in midtown Manhattan. The founders are looking to expand into a second location and also plan to hire a COO, and there is very little room for error in the... View Details

Keywords: Restaurant; New York City; Location Choice; Entrepreneurship; Food; Geographic Location; Food and Beverage Industry; New York (city, NY)

Educators

September 2012 (Revised December 2013)
Case

Intel: Strategic Decisions in Locating a New Assembly and Test Plant (A)

By: Juan Alcacer and Kerry Herman

In mid-2005, Intel is examining its options for where to locate its next assembly and test plant. On its short list of potential sites include locations in China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam. Each country has its own unique benefits and risks related to... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Positioning; Location Choices; Location Strategies; Technology; Geographic Location; Global Strategy; Information Technology; Strategy; Technology Industry; United States; China; India; Thailand; Viet Nam

Educators

October 2012 (Revised February 2014)
Teaching Note

Intel: Strategic Decisions in Locating a New Assembly and Test Plant (A) and (B)

By: Juan Alcácer

The case is used in Harvard Business School's (HBS) elective course "Competing Globally" as the first case in the third module (see "Competing Globally: Course Note for Instructors," HBS No. 713-422). As the first case in the module, it introduces the framework to... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Positioning; Location Choices; Location Strategies; Strategic Planning; Strategy; Global Strategy; Geographic Location; Computer Industry

2022
Working Paper

Where the Cloud Rests: The Location Strategies of Data Centers

By: Shane Greenstein and Tommy Pan Fang

This study provides an analysis of the entry strategies of third-party data centers in the United States. We examine the market before the pandemic in 2018 and 2019, when supply and demand for data services were geographically stable. We compare with the entry... View Details

Keywords: Cloud Computing; Location Strategies; Data Centers; Information Infrastructure

November 2016
Article

Spatial Organization of Firms and Location Choices Through the Value Chain

By: Juan Alcacer and Mercedes Delgado

We explore the impact of geographically bounded, intra-firm linkages (internal agglomerations) and geographically bounded, inter-firm linkages (external agglomerations) on firms' location strategies. Using data from the Census Bureau's Longitudinal Business Database,... View Details

Keywords: Location Choices; Agglomeration Economies; Value Chain; Organization Theory; Geographic Location; Business Strategy

2019
Chapter

Location Fundamentals, Agglomeration Economies, and the Geography of Multinational Firms

By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Xiaoyang Chen

Multinationals exhibit distinct agglomeration patterns, which have transformed the global landscape of industrial production (Alfaro and Chen, 2014). Using a unique worldwide plant-level dataset that reports detailed location, ownership, and operation information for... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firm; Economic Geography; Agglomeration; Location Fundamentals; Agglomeration Economies; Multinational Firms and Management; Geographic Location; Industry Clusters; Economics

25 Oct 2016
Video

FGI Location Launch

Article

Innovation: Location Matters

By: M. E. Porter and Scott Stern

Innovation has become the defining challenge for global competitiveness. To manage it well, companies must harness the power of location in creating and commercialiazing new ideas. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Geographic Location

Research Summary

Strategy and Location

An increasing number of companies finds that their individual success is more and more not only a function of their own decisions but also of the local business environment they operate in. In a globalized world economy, these geographically bound factors are among the... View Details

April 1993 (Revised January 2011)
Background Note

Note on Store Location

By: David E. Bell and Jose B. Alvarez

Reviews some basic issues to be considered in selecting a new location for a retail store. View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Geographic Location; Expansion; Retail Industry

Educators

May 2007
Article

Location Strategies and Knowledge Spillovers

By: Juan Alcacer and Wilbur Chung

Given the importance of proximity for knowledge spillovers, we examine firms' location choices expecting differences in firms' strategies. Firms will locate to maximize their net spillovers as a function of locations' knowledge activity, their own capabilities, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; For-Profit Firms; Knowledge Management; Research and Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruptive Innovation; Five Forces Framework; Cost Management; Technology; Competition; United States

January 2005
Article

Location, Location, Location

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

Keywords: Geographic Location

08 Jun 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Location Choices Under Strategic Interactions

Keywords: by Juan Alcacer

Location Choices under Strategic Interactions

The literature on location choices has mostly emphasized the impact of location and firm characteristics. However, most industries with a significant presence of multi-location firms are oligopolistic in nature, which suggests that strategic interaction among firms... View Details

07 Apr 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Location Strategies for Agglomeration Economies

Keywords: by Juan Alcácer & Wilbur Chung; Technology

2019
Article

Ridesharing with Driver Location Preferences

By: Duncan Rheingans-Yoo, Scott Duke Kominers, Hongyao Ma and David C. Parkes

We study revenue-optimal pricing and driver compensation in ridesharing platforms when drivers have heterogeneous preferences over locations. If a platform ignores drivers' location preferences, it may make inefficient trip dispatches; moreover, drivers may strategize... View Details

Keywords: Ridesharing; Pricing; Compensation and Benefits; Geographic Location; Market Design; Mathematical Methods