Principles of Supply Chain Management, Second Edition, 2nd Edition

269Procurement/Purchasing

nished goods inventory when the purchasing function is in distribution or retail compa-

nies. Purchasing also becomes a key participant in supply chain inventory management.

At the strategic level, inventory management involves deciding where to position the

inventory along the supply chain. Will it be stored in the retail store at the end of the sup-

ply chain, where it will need to be in the largest number of congurations, but will be read-

ily available to the customer? Or should it be stored upstream in the supply chain, where

it can be in a seminished state to reduce the variety required, but less accessible to the ...