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In response to a 22 per cent growth rate in their city over a 10-year period, the members of the McAllen Independent District School Board form a committee to research and analyze several potential expansion projects that would accommodate the growing number of students in the area. The committee discovers certain funding opportunities that may represent attractive options for discharging financial responsibilities to the city’s residents, but in order for these funding options to be considered, the residents will first need to be convinced that the selected option is sound. This process will require a series of careful steps on the part of the committee, including thoughtful negotiation.

In 2008, International Automotive Company (IAC), a German manufacturer of automotive parts, acquired a plant in Reynosa, Mexico. This plant produced various types of motors for power windows, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and wipers. At the time of acquisition, the plant was showing record losses. Because the acquisition was internally financed, it was crucial to make the plant profitable quickly. After conducting a deep analysis, the company discovered that a lack of proper management in the supply chain system was leading to a large amount of wasted resources. As a result, managers looked for opportunities to save money and facilitate improvements mainly in areas such as packaging, warehousing, and transportation. One of the greatest obstacles involved IAC’s employees, who were falling short in terms of knowledge and motivation.

Paul Salinas had just finished moving into his new office in Reynosa, Mexico. He closed the door and sat down, taking a moment to remember how his career had started with International Automotive Company. As he was finishing his engineering studies, Salinas had received a job opportunity as a trainee in the summer of 1995. That was in the company's Querétaro plant, in his hometown. This initial position as an administrative assistant was not necessarily exciting but he held on, knowing there was great potential for him to build his career within the company. During this time, Salinas was trained internally (six months of initial training followed by several specific training sessions per year) and sent to the company's headquarters in Germany before spending some time in the plant in Detroit as well. In Germany, he received a six months long training, which was followed by annual training sessions that lasted several weeks each time. Training in Detroit took places about three times a year, and lasted a few weeks at a time as well. He was familiarized with the technical and business aspects of running a manufacturing plant as he moved from promotion to promotion, and had held the position of operations manager for five years in Querétaro before moving to Reynosa. Apart from his remarkable career track, Salinas had the advantage of speaking Spanish, English and German. All of these qualities made him the perfect candidate to rebuild the entire supply chain in the plant that the company had just acquired from Motor Company II in Reynosa, Mexico in 2009.

The city of McAllen, Texas and its partners have worked on attracting an automotive assembly plant to the region for over fifteen years. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provision, this region enjoys the advantages offered by both sides of the Mexican-U.S. border. Even during the economic downturn of 2007 to 2008, McAllen experienced a lower unemployment rate compared to other cities in the United States. One of the primary reasons was its close proximity and economic ties to Mexico. Lower labour cost, a right-to-work state and proximity to Mexico were some of this region's strengths, while a high illiteracy rate, limited numbers of automotive suppliers and small workforce were among its weaknesses. Based on publicly available data and aggregate score evaluation methods, McAllen is compared to other potential sites. The case addresses a wide range of issue regarding site selection factors within the automotive industry.

The city of McAllen, Texas and its partners have worked on attracting an automotive assembly plant to the region for over fifteen years. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provision, this region enjoys the advantages offered by both sides of the Mexican-U.S. border. Even during the economic downturn of 2007 to 2008, McAllen experienced a lower unemployment rate compared to other cities in the United States. One of the primary reasons was its close proximity and economic ties to Mexico. Lower labor cost, a right-to-work state and proximity to Mexico were some of this region's strengths, while a high illiteracy rate, limited numbers of automotive suppliers and small workforce were among its weaknesses. Based on publicly available data and aggregate score evaluation methods, McAllen is compared to other potential sites. The case addresses a wide range of issue regarding site selection factors within the automotive industry. Teaching objectives include: 1) to examine essential factors for site location of different industries, including the automotive industry 2) to evaluate the potential sites based on a quantitative method, such as the relative aggregate score 3) to understand other qualitative factors that can affect the decision. The case is suitable for courses and workshops concerning operations management, supply chain management, production management, project management, decision science and management science. Exhibits can be omitted for graduate and executive levels, requiring the students to research and come up with their own factors.