A Framework for Evaluating Strategic Location-Based Applications in Businesses

Location-based and location-oriented applications will be amongst the most powerful drivers of organizational change in the coming years. However, the strategic use of these technologies and the benefits tied to them will vary from one organization to another based on the business needs to fill. The alignment between the use of location-based technologies and the firms´ business strategic orientation is thus of primary importance. In an attempt to support firms in this alignment process, this paper presents the GEOGRID framework for identifying and analyzing the strategic opportunities offered to firms by the use of leading edge location technologies. This framework groups the main variables that need to be considered in order to analyze the competitive positioning of the business, to surface assumptions, to ascertain benefits, and to control costs tied to the strategic applications of location technologies in organizations.