In five pages this paper considers the office supply and home improvement industries in a consideration of location's competitive advantages as they pertain to Home Depot, Staples, OfficeMax, and Lowe's. Four sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_MTloccom.rtf
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what, exactly that means. Does the location mean it has to be easily visible? Easily accessible? Easily found? This is not an easy question to answer, as a location that
can spell death to one particular product can end up being a positive boon for another. Once upon a time, a business owner wanting to succeed would need to find
a storefront in a location that was miles away from the nearest competition - and in a location that was accessible to customers. These days, however, the whole concept of
competition and location has undergone some massive shifts. While some service institutions (such as in the example following) continue to tout the benefits of nearby and easy location, the definition
of a "good" business location continues to change and evolve. In one study concerning banking in the UK, a survey determined that location
is important to a customer base, as they perceived that value was added if a bank was located in an immediate vicinity of a home or business (Devlin, 1998). This
has been particularly true among people who are older and more set in their ways - they want someplace to bank that is easily accessible, preferably near home.
But accessible location isnt everything, nor is it necessarily the key to beating the competition. Its very true that at one time, stores had to
be close to customers, offices close to transportation routes and factories close to skilled and inexpensive labor pools (Anonymous, 1998). But technology has changed a lot of that - many
customers (and competition) are going into cyberspace to do business (Anonymous, 1998). In this regard, it isnt necessarily where youre located physically as much as it is how often youre