The paper develops a simple theoretical model of inventory control in global supply chains. It identifies a role for … intermediaries in managing inventory, and shows that inserting an intermediary as an additional link in a supply chain is profitable … when demand volatility is high. It also provides conditions under which the intermediary handling inventory is located in …

The paper develops a simple theoretical model of inventory control in global supply chains. It identifies a role for … intermediaries in managing inventory, and shows that inserting an intermediary as an additional link in a supply chain is profitable … when demand volatility is high. It also provides conditions under which the intermediary handling inventory is located in …

The paper develops a simple theoretical model of inventory control in global supply chains. It identifies a role for … intermediaries in managing inventory, and shows that inserting an intermediary as an additional link in a supply chain is profitable … when demand volatility is high. It also provides conditions under which the intermediary handling inventory is located in …

The paper shows that taking inventory control out of the hands of retailers and assigning it to an intermediary … incentive problems associated with retailers' inventory control and thereby improve the intertemporal allocation of inventory …. Adding an intermediary as a new link in a supply chain is also shown to reduce total inventory, to make shipments from the …

The paper shows that taking inventory control out of the hands of competitive or exclusive retailers and assigning it … because doing so solves incentive distortions that arise when retailers have to allocate inventory across sales periods, and … thus allows for better intertemporal price discrimination. Assigning inventory control to a manufacturer is also shown to …