Facilities Location or Relocation
Various motivations make organizations undertake facilities location or relocation projects. The motivations can be positive and negative. One major motivation is the need to move closer to sources of supply or markets. Organizations setting a facility closer to the market can make more sales and enhance their revenue levels (Jacobs & Chase, 2020). Another motivation for location or relocation initiatives is reducing operations costs. Examples of such costs include transportation, production, and marketing costs. Additionally, companies like Apple engage in location or relocation initiatives to move closer to a relevant workforce. For instance, Schuh & Huber (2022) notes that the company has ventured into major operations in China and Hong Kong in a move to come closer with suppliers, while it has relocated its research and development department to Herzliya in a move to come closer with relevant and innovative workforce environment.
On the contrary, organizations can engage in location or relocation initiatives as a unionization measure or avoid costly regulation. Notably, this can negatively affect the governments, which are major stakeholders, because they lose in taxes when companies relocate from their workspace. Other stakeholders aside from the government are affected by organizations’ initiatives to locate or relocate. Such include customers, suppliers, the general public, employees, and investors. Organizations stand to gain or lose from engaging in domestic or international locations. More accessible communications, positive local perception, faster order fulfillment rates, reduced shipping costs, and flexible payment options exist when engaging in domestic locations. However, domestic locations are often associated with limited production and are rarely cost-competitive (yan Zhang & Van Den Bulcke, 2018). While engaging in international locations, organizations can benefit from a high-volume capability, easy-to-reach targeted customers, more significant variability, and reduced overall costs. However, international locations have a share of cons, including increased shipping costs, negative press, limited oversight, and cultural divides.
References
Jacobs, F. R., & Chase, R. B. (2020). Operations and supply chain management (16th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. ISBN-13: 9781260238907
Schuh, A., & Huber, D. (2022). Leaving the world’s factory: relocating global supply chains out of China. In Research Handbook on Foreign Exit, Relocation and Re-entry (pp. 259-291). Edward Elgar Publishing.
yan Zhang, H., & Van Den Bulcke, D. (2018). International management strategies of Chinese multinational firms. In Management Issues in China: Volume II (pp. 141-164). Routledge.
ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
We’ll write everything from scratch
Question 
Assessment Description
Evaluate the motivations of organizations such as Apple to initiate a facilities location or relocation project?
Facilities Location or Relocation
In your response, ensure to use resources to evaluate the stakeholders and pros and cons of domestic vs. international locations.