AILS has slowly expanded its consulting offerings to include site selection for manufacturing plants and warehousing facilities. Recently, AILS was retained on a site selection project by American Athletic Apparel $($AAA$),$ a large multinational supplier of athletic clothing. AAA has asked AILS to determine the best location for a manufacturing plant that will produce wickable athletic shirts for export to North America and Western Europe.

AAA has one key stipulation for the chosen site: The manufacturing plant must be located in a city with a population of between $1,500,000$ and $3,500,000$ residents, which excludes places like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, among others. Because the majority of shirts will be exported from India via water transportation $($air freight may be utilized in extraordinary situations$),$ AAA has agreed to let AILS leverage its existing relationships with logistics personnel at Mumbai Port. With this consideration in mind, after several months of arduous work AILS narrowed the plant location to two metropolitan areas: Patna $($in the state of Bihar$)$ and Lucknow $($in the state of Uttar Pradesh$).$

QUESTIONS

With respect to the natural resources needed to make wickable shirts, is Patna or Lucknow the preferred location? Why?

With respect to transportation considerations, is Patna or Lucknow the preferred location? Why?

With respect to labor characteristics, is Patna or Lucknow the preferred location? Why?

With respect to quality$-$of$-$life considerations, is Patna or Lucknow the preferred location? Why?

Should AILS recommend that the manufacturing plant be located in Patna or Lucknow? Why?

Would your answer to question $5$ change if the shirts are exported through the Port of Kolkata? Why or why not?

Suppose that AAA decides to nearsource production to Latin America. Keeping in mind the key stipulation presented in the case, where might AAA locate its production plant in Latin America? Why?