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The research in competitive facility location (CFL) is quite dynamic, both from a problem formulation and an algorithmic point of view. Research direction has changed immensely over the years to address various competitive challenges. This study aims to explore CFL literature to highlight these research trends, important issues and future research opportunities.

This study utilises the Scopus database to search for related CFL models and adopts a five-step systematic approach for the review process. The five steps involve (1) Article Identification and keyword selection, (2) Selection criteria, (3) Literature review, (4) Literature analysis and (5) Research studies.

The paper presents a comprehensive review of CFL modelling efforts from 1981 to 2021 to provide a depth study of the research evolution in this area. The published articles are classified based on multiple characteristics, including the type of problem, type of competition, game-theoretical approaches, customer behaviour, decision space, type of demand, number of facilities, capacity and budget limitations. The review also highlights the popular problem areas and dedicated research in the respective domain. In addition, a second classification is also provided based on solution methods adopted to solve various CFL models and real-world case studies.

The paper covers 40 years of CFL literature from the perspective of the problem area, CFL characteristics and the solution approach. Additionally, it introduces characteristics such as capacity limit and budget constraint for the first time for classification purposes.

This paper uses a large‐scale survey of SMEs (1,531 respondents) in the UK to assess the factors associated with their competitive conditions and their competitive advantage. Results appear to confirm that, as SME businesses grow, they develop their strategy to seek specialisation and differentiation of their products and services and diversification of their customer base. However, the paper suggests caution about any government policies based on local intervention. It suggests that policy assisted areas have no association with different local competitive conditions or advantage/disadvantage. Instead, the paper suggests that firms increasingly obtain competitive advantage from developing trading relationships with other regions or countries beyond their own locality. Consequently policy assistance should be tailored closely to the needs of the SME rather than the locality.

This chapter shows how different recycling locations influence closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) cost and carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e), as well as reveal competitive recycling and manufacturing locations, including relevant distance- and location-related factors, for achieving very low cost and CO₂e CLSCs supporting circular economy. Exploratory data analysis is used to analyze results from simulations based on empirical data and market rates relating to textile and clothing CLSCs. The results show that most very low-cost and CO₂e CLSCs consist of fabric and garment manufacturing located at the same or nearby locations, and whose labor costs and electricity CO₂e are low, whether fiber recycling facilities are located in proximity to used garment sorting facilities or not. Scenario and sensitivity analyses of important cost and CO₂e factors for recycling location competitiveness reveal that increasing used garment prices makes locations with high import duties lose competitiveness, and that varying water freight CO₂e changes comparative location competitiveness.

Logistical facility location decisions can make a crucial difference in the success or failure of a company. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have recently become a very popular decision support system to help deal with facility location problems. However, until recently, GIS methodologies have not been fully embraced as a way to deal with new facility location problems in business logistics. This research makes a framework for categorizing empirical facility location problems based on the intensity of the involvement of GIS methodologies in decision making. This framework was built by analyzing facility location models and GIS methodologies. The research results revealed the depth of the embracement of GIS methodologies in logistics for determining new facility location decisions. In the new facility location decisions, spatial data inputs are almost always coupled with the visualization of the problems and solutions. However, the usage of GIS capability solely (i.e. suitability analysis) for problem solving has not been embraced at the same level. In most cases, the suitability analysis is used together with special optimization models for choosing among the multiple alternatives.

The paper aims to establish empirical connections between corporate real estate management (CREM) practices and organisations' sources of sustainable competitive advantage (SSCA). The alignment of CREM practices with modes of achieving competitiveness provides greater competitive advantage from CREM.

The model for sustainable competitive advantage for corporate real estate (CRE) theorising the connections between CREM practices and SSCAs was implemented in a survey of Australian CRE managers. Practices' competitive benefits are reported at the aggregated level of practice categories and illustrated with a selected category of individual practices.

The model was supported by the study's results by providing connections suggested in the model but not previously corroborated in the literature. The cost source of sustainable competitive advantage was a dominant empirical competitive mode for CREM, as it was in the model. Categories of technical CREM practices providing competitive advantage were shown to be practices for “location/site selection”, “workplace styles” and “corporate finance for CRE”.

The research's relatively small sample of organisations meant that not all practices were evident. However, the study does establish the model's usefulness for evaluating CREM's alignment with organisations' modes of competition.

For CRE and its management to fully support a competitive organisation it is essential that CREM practices align with that organisation's competitive positioning. This research evaluated a framework for CRE managers to do this.

CRE, its management, and their connections to competitiveness have seldom been studied but are important as CRE is an organisations' second largest resource. This paper's model is a significant advance in frameworks linking CREM practices to organisational competitiveness for both practitioners and also further theoretical work in the area.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for positioning the research contributions on the analysis of firm‐level international competitiveness and addressing the key issues on this topic.

Linking the concepts of internationalization, performance, and firm‐level competitiveness, the paper proposes a framework for identifying the different dimensions of international competitiveness. Literature on each dimension is reviewed and the linkages between them are discussed.

The paper unbundles the construct of international competitiveness into three dimensions: “ex ante” competitiveness, relating to firm‐ and location‐specific advantages as drivers of competitiveness; firm internationalization profile, resulting from the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of a firm's presence abroad; “ex post” competitiveness, relating to market, financial and nonfinancial performance of a firm in foreign markets.

Although the analysis of international competitiveness benefits from contributions from different research streams such as international business, marketing, and strategic management, the lack of an organizing framework makes it difficult to “handle” within a potentially huge body of literature. This paper contributes to fill this gap. In addition, it provides the basis for a new research agenda about the analysis of the internationalization‐performance relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) performance and impact in contexts beyond their own internal objectives.

Based on an “eclectic” paradigm and the range of motivations, the framework is designed around three layers of evaluation: “efficiency” as static optimisation, “growth and development” as the dynamics of change on a purely economic view; political/economic sphere in terms of the outcomes of “distribution”, and “sovereignty” on the more purely political concern of how MNEs may undermine countries’ policy independence.

MNE and national economies have to use current sources of competitiveness efficiently while addressing the necessity to reinforce and refocus them through time. Within these broad agendas, significant interactions and outcomes reflect a range of contingencies conditioned by both MNE objectives and hosts’ competitive status.

The paper concerns economics and MNE role in globalisation. The paper defines a framework of four generic evaluative issues of MNE performance, which subsume a wider range of important but more niche concerns.

Despite the importance of the service sector in developed economies and the growth of foreign investments in this sector during the last decade, few studies have undertaken to empirically analyze the factors influencing entry mode choice. The special characteristics of the service sector increase the complexity of the analysis and, thus, traditional explanations of entry mode choice in manufacturing sectors may need to be complemented by other moderating influences. Based on 174 entry decisions of service firms, our results suggest the importance of including strategic variables and the specific nature of services to understand a complex phenomenon, which is not always associated just with efficiency and value-based considerations but also with strategic issues and industry characteristics.

This study aims to test the emerald model on the regional basis for the identification of the most important sources of competitiveness in the states of the US.

Using the emerald model and its assertions, data are collected over the period 1998-2013 from 47 states in the US. Multiple regression analysis is performed with a lag structure of four, six and eight years as alternative time intervals to explain the dependent variable.

The empirical results support the emerald model except for its R&D attractiveness dimension in its ability to explain competitiveness in the states of the US. In the longer term (eight-year lag), cluster attractiveness has the highest impact, followed by environmental attractiveness, ownership attractiveness, educational attractiveness and talent attractiveness. Comparison of regression models with different time lags indicates that once the very early phase is over, the impacts of most attractiveness dimensions become rather consistent across time and do not disappear.

The study contributes to the literature on the measurement of regional competitiveness by performing an overall assessment of the emerald model and by analyzing the impacts of the model’s dimensions on competitiveness over time. On the other hand, the identification of the sources of regional competitiveness paves the way for a more efficient allocation of resources regarding policies and improvement programs.

The purpose of this paper is to extend previous scholarly writing on community service‐learning (SL) initiatives by looking beyond their use in the not‐for‐profit sector to their potential use in community‐based small businesses.

A rationale for the appropriateness of using SL projects in small businesses is provided, and distinctions drawn between small business SL projects and student internships. A case study involving a strategic management project in a community‐based small business is presented.

The findings support the usefulness of SL initiatives in small businesses. Benefits to the students include an enhanced understanding of course material, improved learning through the transparent information sharing and experience of the small business owner, increased confidence in strategic management skills, and greater appreciation of community, environmental, and ethical concerns. Benefits to the small business owner included receipt of customized, onsite services that circumvented opportunity, and financial costs associated with other consultation or training options, an unbiased and well‐rounded strategic audit, and receipt of an alternate perspective on the business that would not otherwise be available.

Future research should explore the use of SL projects in a broader range of undergraduate business courses and continue to develop pragmatic frameworks for initiatives involving small businesses. Factors associated with small business engagement in SL and outcomes for business owners should also be investigated.

Practical information on the implementation SL initiatives in community‐based small businesses is provided, along with guidance on dealing with potential risk management concerns related to non‐conflict of interest, confidentiality, and liability.

Previous approaches to SL have focused almost exclusively on partnerships with not‐for‐profit agencies. This paper supports the usefulness of SL initiatives in for‐profit, community‐based small businesses.