Finding the optimal solution to the Huff based competitive location model

In this paper we solve the gravity (Huff) model for the competitive facility location problem. We show that the generalized Weiszfeld procedure converges to a local maximum or a saddle point. We also devise a global optimization procedure that finds the optimal solution within a given accuracy. This procedure is very efficient and finds the optimal solution for 10,000 demand points in less than six minutes of computer time. We also experimented with the generalized Weiszfeld algorithm on the same set of randomly generated problems. We repeated the algorithm from 1,000 different starting solutions and the optimum was obtained at least 17 times for all problems. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg 2004