Which should the new offices be located to maximize the potential (the sum of rank scores)?
2. How much does it cost to open the new offices selected in the previous question?
3. Choose all existing office locations where all available employees are transferred to the new offices.

4. Choose all new office locations where all employees relocated from the same office.

 

 

NEW OFFICES AT ATLANTIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Atlantic Management Systems is a consulting firm that specializes in developing computerized decision sup- port systems for computer manufacturing companies. The firm currently has offices in Chicago, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, and Houston. It is considering opening new offices in one or more cities-including Atlanta, Boston, Washington, DC, St. Louis, Miami, Denver, and Detroit-and it has $14 million available for this purpose. Because of the highly specialized nature of its high-tech consulting work, the firm must necessar- ily staff any new offices with a minimum number of its employees from its existing offices. However, it has a limited number of employees available to transfer to any new offices. In addition, the cost of transferring employ- ees depends on the city they are leaving and the city to which they might move. Following are the costs for opening a new office in each of the prospective cities and the start-up staffing needs at each office: Current Office 1. Atlanta 2. Boston 1. Chicago $19 $32 2. Charlotte 14 47 3. Pittsburgh 16 39 4. Houston 22 26 Prospective Office $27 31 26 21 1. Atlanta 2. Boston 3. Denver 4. Detroit 5. Miami 6. St. Louis 7. Washington, DC Existing Office Chicago Charlotte Pittsburgh Houston Setup Cost ($1,000,000s) $1.7 3.6 2.1 2.5 $14 28 23 18 3.1 2.7 4.1 $23 35 31 28 The numbers of employees available for transfer from each of the current offices are as follows: Available Employees Staffing Needs (employees) 24 19 16 21 9 14 8 The costs (in thousands of dollars) of transferring an employee from an existing office to a new office differ according to housing costs and moving expenses plus cost of living adjustments. They are as follows: Prospective New Offices (costs, $1,000s) 3. Denver 4. Detroit 5. Miami 6. St. Louis 7. Washington, DC $41 53 48 43 $14 18 19 24 12 11 7 18