Uncapacitated Plant Location Under Alternative Spatial Price Policies

Given a spatial system of clients' demand functions, this paper proposes solution methods to determine the price(s), the number, the locations, the sizes, and the market areas of the plants supplying the clients in order to maximize the profit of the firm. Three alternative spatial price policies are considered: (i) uniform mill pricing, in which the same price is charged to the clients at the plant door, (ii) uniform delivered pricing, in which clients pay the same delivered price irrespective of their locations, and (iii) spatial discriminatory pricing, which is such that the firm sets client-specific prices based on their locations. Computational results are reported.