solution

1. Location Factor Weighting: page 359 problem 8-14

An American consulting firm is planning to expand globally by opening a new office in one of four countries: Germany, Italy, Spain, or Greece. The chief partner entrusted with the decision, L. Wayne Shell, has identified eight key success factors that he views as essential for the success of any consultancy. He used a rating system of 1 (least desirable country) to 5 (most desirable) to evaluate each factor.

Level of education

Number of consultants 05 5 5 5 2

National literacy rate 05 4 2 1 1

Political aspects

Stability of government 0.2 5 5 5 2

Product liability laws 0.2 5 2 3 5

Environmental regulations 0.2 1 4 1 3

Social and cultural aspects

Similarity in language 0.1 4 2 1 1

Acceptability of consultants 0.1 1 4 4 3

Economic factors

Incentives 0.1 2 3 1 5

1. Which country should be selected for the new office?
2. If Spain’s score were lowered in the Stability of government factor, to a 4, how would its overall score change? On this factor, at what score for Spain would the rankings change?