Stryker Inc. manufactures medical devices and wants to establish a factory in continental Europe. For the location, management must decide between France, Germany, and Poland. You have been assigned to research and recommend the best country from the three choices.

Management prefers the country with the best overall profile of productive and low-cost workers. Good data sources for your research are the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov), the European Commission (http://

ec.europa.eu), and the OECD (www.stats.oecd.org). Prepare a recommendation on which country—France, Germany, or Poland—would be the best choice to locate the factory.

(Note: Such decisions are normally much more complex than implied here, but a preliminary analysis is a starting point for decision making.)

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