This study examines two important issues concerning the evaluation of business location factors. First, in contrast to many analyses that seek to determine the influence of a single factor or set of factors on site selection, this study aims to measure the relative importance of a wide range of factors. Second, it investigates the extent to which the perceived importance of a given location factor varies based on the type of facility in question. While there is a substantial amount of research devoted to identifying industry‐specific location factors, little is known about the influence that facility type has on the assessment of location criteria. Drawing on original survey data collected from real estate professionals in the U.S., we found significant differences in the mean ratings for more than half of the 39 location factors on the basis of facility type. In particular, “corporate/office” respondents were significantly more likely than “manufacturing” or “retail” respondents to assign higher ratings to “quality‐of‐life” location factors, such as crime rates, amenities, housing, and schools. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research on location theory.

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The global economy is highly dependent upon international ocean shipping and important related industries, such as vessel brokerage and chartering. Maritime safety in today's international economic environment presents policy, management, and ethical dilemmas for global business managers, including those not directly involved with managing marine transportation. This paper presents some of these issues, calls for managerial attention to the ethical problems raised, and adapts an existing framework for ethical decision‐making for this purpose.

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