That's a mouthful of a title, but just shows that players sometimes have a range of options.
The Factory has always been considered a "big city" card in that it mops up excess population into workers while delivering a high income. However, this has come at a price. If you were able to pick up a Factory for under 8 HIVE then you've done well.
But in terms of card values, a Factory is pretty much the same as a couple of Zoos or Circuses. Indeed, the price chart below shows that prices have more or less aligned with card strengths. (Let's ignore what looks like a "fat finger" trade and possibly some irrational exuberance in early August!)
Although there are no similar 2nd Edition cards, the Ad Agency and the Hotel come in at slightly below and slightly above the Zoo/Circus specs respectively. It is thus possible to buy one of each and get something that is quite similar to a Factory.
An Ad Agency has one attractive feature: one of the highest ratios of income-per-worker. At 1.5 SIM per worker, that's the same as a Bank!
If we look at the standard parameters of population-income-popularity-workers, then a Factory is 0-20-5-40, while an Ad Agency (0-9-5-6) and a Hotel (4-10-5-15) add up to 4-19-10-21. Indeed, two Hotels may be a closer fit at 8-20-10-30, but that extra population and popularity means that you won't be decreasing social costs as much - and that really depends if your city needs to or whether it's really an income-generation strategy.
However, if your city is running close to optimal, meaning there are few unemployed and hence very low social costs, then the added population is a positive thing in that it creates the people needed to become workers.
If you really need to decrease social costs, then something like a Research Center (or any education card) can fulfil that role, even if you don't care about the education value. Indeed, as we have seen the education card prices falling, they have this secondary job of needing a lot of workers and hence can increase your income by lowering social costs - as long as their price makes this reasonable.
We can see this by adding a Research Center and an Ad Agency to give a spec of 0-12-10-24; not quite a Factory but also a bit cheaper. With four numbers to juggle, it really is worth inputting card parameters into a spreadsheet so that they are easier to add up. Look at what you need, how to get it and the cheapest option - and don't forget to check out the SIM prices as well as the SWAP.HIVE ones.
I shall say more about Ad Agencies in the next post. As you can see in the above graph, prices have started moving.
Related DCity Posts: Shopping Malls, Cinemas and Stadiums - Basic Homes and Apartments - How to Construct a Small dCity With a Big Income
Images from DCity Statistics, created by @rafalski.