Title: Role of inventories and cash: Swedish publicly traded manufacturing companies in 2010-2023

Authors: Olli-Pekka Hilmola; Per Hilletofth

Addresses: Department of Industrial Management, Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering, University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden; Estonian Maritime Academy, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia ' Department of Industrial Management, Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering, University of Gävle, SE-801 76, Gävle, Sweden

Abstract: Since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the world experienced very low interest rates for more than a decade. This favoured less efficient inventory management practices. Coronavirus era and military conflicts in the recent years have further affected sourcing and operations. In this study, we analyse Swedish publicly traded manufacturing companies during this period (2010-2023), concerning both inventory and cash holdings. Inventory efficiencies decline gradually in the era of low interest rates and accelerate to do so since the dawn of the coronavirus crisis. Some improvements were detected in the last observation year. However, in terms of the absolute monetary amount and share of assets, inventories have substantially increased since 2021. Cash (liquid assets) held in assets has not changed much during the observation period, showing only a spike at the start of the coronavirus era. Companies seem to favour lower inventory efficiency systems without a higher emphasis on cash.

Keywords: inventory; cash; efficiency; analysis; Sweden.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPSCM.2026.154572

International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling, 2026 Vol.16 No.2, pp.236 - 250

Received: 14 Feb 2025
Accepted: 06 Oct 2025
Published online: 06 Jul 2026 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article