Transportation Analysis Homework

Q.2 Amazon is rapidly expanding in Europe. As of November 2013, Amazon had distribution centers in the top five markets (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain) as shown below. Ignore Italy for this question. Country Population (Millions) Total E Commerce Revenue in 2012 (Bil. Euro) E commerce growth in 2012 Number of Amazon Distn Centers Number of Amazon Distn Centers Built after 2008 Amazon Distn Centers Total Square Meters Germany 81 45 +27% 9 6 850,000 UK 62 90 +14% 8 6 470,000 France 65 46 +22% 4 4 270,000 Spain 47 11 +20% 1 1 30,000 Sources: European Multichannel and Online Trade Association, MWPVL International Supply Chain Consulting, Wikipedia Amazon is evaluating alternative locations for new distribution centers in Spain. You are the planning director for Amazon Europe. (A). Identify at least ten key factors that will be driving your recommendation for these new distribution centers in Spain (the factor, how you will collect the data required, the probability of accuracy of the data, and the priority for this factor. Priorities are of Type 1 – absolutely key in the decision making; Type 2 – very important; Type 3 – nice to know but not a key driver. As an example a couple of factors are listed below (do not reuse them – you will not get points for repetition!) Factor Data Collection Prob of accuracy Priority Other Notes Demand History for 2011 and 2012 50% (historical demand forecast accuracy) 2 (Ideally demand but for overall e commerce E commerce is growing rapidly – no real history and growth forecasts demand, population is a good substitute) are uncertain Distance between potential DCs and demand locations Spanish road map files 99% -­â€ highly accurate, unlikely to have major new highway construction 1 Use top 50 population centers as surrogate for demand locations (B) Briefly (short sentences or bullet points) list the key steps of the process you will go through in order to make this decision on the number and location of the Spanish Distribution Centers for Amazon. FOR THIS ENTIRE QUESTION YOU MUST COLLECT ALL THE DATA YOU USE FROM PUBLISHED SOURCES AND REFERENCE THE SOURCES IN YOUR ANSWER. YOU MAY NOT CONTACT ANY INDIVIDUAL (IN ANY COMPANY, ORGANIZATION OR CAPACITY) TO REQUEST DATA.