Site selection for an engineering and management services firm in Saudi Arabia

Realising the unique changing cultural and economic environment that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has, resulting from the globalisation and soaring oil prices, this paper intends to deploy a decision making study to address the different issues related to selecting a site for an engineering consulting firm. The study utilises the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) which is defined as a process for identifying, understanding and assessing the interactions of variables in making a decision. The formed AHP model consists of four levels. Level 1 is defined as the goal of selecting the optimum site for the engineering consulting firm. Levels 2 and 3 contain the different criteria to choose the site. An online survey was conducted from experts in the engineering and services field in Saudi Arabia to assess the relative importance of each criterion. Level 4 has the available site alternatives which are grouped into three categories of metropolitan, economic and industrial cities.