A Mathematical Model to Locate Services of General Economic Interest

Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI) are services of public interest whose provision is ruled by public authorities to guarantee accessibility levels for users and fair competition among service providers. Therefore, locating SGEI in a given territory implies the definition of adequate criteria driving the decision-making process. In this context, Facility Location Models (FLMs) can play a crucial role as a decision support tool to simulate regulatory frameworks and identify practical solutions. In this work, we propose a mathematical model for the location of such services, including constraints about users’ spatial accessibility while considering a dispersion criterion to ensure fair market competition. We apply the model to a real problem concerning the locations of pharmacies in the city of Pamplona (Navarre, Spain). The obtained results show the capability of the model to produce meaningful scenarios that can support the definition of appropriate regulatory frameworks.