The Competitive Location Problem under Gradual Cover and Different Covering Radius

The location of new facilities of the chain-company is vital for market expansion. To study two important facts: the allocation of market share and service radius of facilities. The utility function is the most important function for allocation the market share by a retail facility in a competitive environment. Conjunction with the spatial customer choice, we define a step utility function which is used to constitute a new model of a chain-company's new facilities location in competitive environment. Both the decay cover and the service radius of facilities are considered in the model. The genetic algorithm to solve this model is developed and computational experiment is described. It is showed that this model and algorithm can apply to the location decision of the chain-companypsilas new facilities, and can efficiently obtain an approximate solution.