Title: Inventory control in the retail sector: case studies of best business practices

Authors: Terry Damron; William T. Rupp; Alan D. Smith

Addresses: College of Business, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN 37044, USA ' College of Business, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN 37044, USA ' Department of Marketing, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3099, USA

Abstract: Essentially all service and manufacturing organisations, especially within the retail industry, are struggling to find a balance in their inventory strategies that will not only keep the materials on hand to satisfy customer requests, but simultaneously limit the amount of inventory space they use in order to meet these demands. Although the manufacturing industry may have specialty materials that are used, it has proven difficult to be prepared for what design changes the customer might suggests. Many of the same parallels have been experienced by retail managers. This paper will discuss the importance of one of the major strategic decisions in operation management; namely inventory management within the retail environment. The case study looks at the best practices between two Pittsburgh, PA-based retailers, Dick's Sporting Goods and American Eagle and highlights additional strategic decisions, such as supply chain and human resources as particular aspects of inventory management is examined in closer detail and how it relates to the financial well-being of each company.

Keywords: case study; corporate social responsibility; CSR; distribution logistics; inventory control; inventory software; supply chain management; SCM; supplier collaboration; retail industry; retailing; best practice; operations management; inventory management; human resources; USA; United States.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPM.2016.076309

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2016 Vol.9 No.3, pp.354 - 371

Received: 13 Mar 2015
Accepted: 18 Apr 2015
Published online: 01 May 2016 *

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