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A number of key questions will be addressed along this thesis. First, location choice models use geo-referenced data, for which choice sets have an explicit spatial component. It is thus critical to understand how to represent spatial aspect in location choice models. Second, what makes these discrete choices particularly interesting and challenging to analyze is that decisions of a particular establishment are interrelated with choices of the others. These thorny problems posed by the interdependence of decisions generally cannot be assumed away, without altering the realism of the model of establishment decision making. The conventional approaches to location selection fail by providing only a set of systematic steps for problem-solving without considering strategic interactions between the establishments in the market. One of the goals is to explore how to correctly adapt location choice models to study establishments' discrete choices when they are interrelated. Third, a firm can open a number of units and serves the market from multiple locations. Once again traditional theory and methods may not be suitable to situations wherein individual establishments instead of locating independently from each other, form a whole large organization, such as a chain facing in addition a fierce competition from other chains. There is a necessity to incorporate interactions between units within the same and competing firms. Illustrative questions that can be answered are: How fast do the firm profit and the market power decline when the number of firms and their outlets in the market increases or when the distance to their rivals decreases? How does a firm perceive a rival store located in a very close neighborhood and how if it is located far away? What is the nature and degree of competition for each of the analyzed chain?   An intensified research effort along the lines of location choices is still desirable to bring the answers to many questions of this type. 

Literature   Chapter I introduces the reader to the location choice models. The list of the key factors that potentially influence the locational decisions has been created baseed on the research of Maoh (2005), Strotmann (2007), Liviano-Solis and Arauzo-Carod (2011), Rocha (2008), Maoh and Kanaroglou (2005, 2007), Bondomi and Greenbaum (2007), Bodenmann (2011), Duvereux et al. (2007), Neumark and Kolko (2010), De Bok (2004), Bodenmann and Axhausen (2012, 2010), and the review of Arauzo-Carod et al. (2010). Chapter I provides also a discussion on the first attempts to incorporate spatial effects into location choice models starting with Bhat and Guo (2004) on modeling spatial dependence in residential locations using a mixed logit. Sener et al. (2011) propose the generalized spatially correlated logit and Miyamoto et al. (2004) the mixed logit with the error autocorrelation and an autocorrelated deterministic component of utility to model the residential behavior. Garrido and Mahmassani (2000) discusses a multinomial probit with spatially and temporally correlated error structure to analyze and forecast the distribution of freight flows.   Nguyen et al. (2012) discusses a tree-stage firm relocation model wherein spatial correlation between zones has been implemented in the error term and spatial interactions among firms in the deterministic part. Klier and McMillen (2008) provide a description of the GMM spatial logit to model the clustering of the auto supplier establishments.   Chapter II   concerns xxx, starting with X and X et al. on entry games and competition.   Chapter II is on the xxx. X introduces ...  X discusses   X et al. provide a closely related discussion on xxx.  X writes about the role of...