A dynamic hybrid modelling approach for global facility location

Global Facility Location (GFL) is a crucial and irreversible decision for top management of the global business firms, searching for potential countries in global markets. It, therefore, requires a broader analysis of a large number of influencing criteria. There are hardly any GFL studies focusing on the real world uncertainties, future dynamics and interaction of GFL stakeholders. This work is about establishing a new platform for dynamic analysis of GFL problems by screening out the most critical influencing parameters and establishing an initial pattern of Agent Based Modelling (ABM). Using a hybrid Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (F-AHP), the parameters initially explored from literature are prioritized and rankings in terms of objective-functions are calculated for a selected set of countries. The results of F-AHP models in terms of screened out parameters and Country Objective Functions (COF’s) are used as inputs to the ABM platform. The investor agent senses the COF in agent-set of countries and moves for plant installation to one with highest COF value. The results of hybrid ABM-GFL are more flexible and comprehensive than other methodologies as it not only considers the mutli-objective nature of the GFL problem but also takes into account the real world ambiguities in data pools & expert opinions. It also deals with dynamic priorities and stochastic country ratings which are changing over the time span of simulation.