Hospitals are health care institutions that are normally located in areas that are densely populated.
There are over 17,000 hospitals in the whole world. In accord with the original meaning of the word, hospitals were originally "places of hospitality", and this meaning is still preserved in the names of some institutions such as the Royal Hospital Chelsea, established in 1681 as a retirement and nursing home for veteran soldiers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital#General)
In general, hospitals are normally located in areas where they are other major hospitals as a way to acquire materials at low transportation costs. Unlike other businesses like franchises like McDonalds that would prefer to be in an area where there are no other fast food outlets, hospitals enjoy the benefits of being near other hospitals not only in terms of supply of raw materials but also to acquire bigger market shares.
Most hospitals are specialized to include trauma centers, rehabilitation hospitals, children's hospitals, seniors' (geriatric) hospitals, and hospitals for dealing with specific medical needs such as psychiatric problems, certain disease categories such as cardiac, oncology, or orthopedic problems, and so forth.
A hospital may be a single building or a number of buildings on a campus. Many hospitals with pre-twentieth-century origins began as one building and evolved into campuses. Some hospitals are affiliated with universities for medical research and the training of medical personnel such as physicians and nurses, often called teaching hospitals. Worldwide, most hospitals are run on a nonprofit basis by governments or charities. Within the United States, most hospitals are nonprofit. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital#General)
1. How can sales market share and profit be optimized for entire set of locations?
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. Market share is the percentage of a