Empirical Evidence for Inventory Theories

Session organizer: Nagihan Comez-Dolgan, nagihancomezdolgan@sehir.edu.tr

Theories on inventory management are mainly obtained through operations research, which is also called “science of better”. The roots of operations research rely on rigorous models that aim to find better, if not the best, actions. Accordingly, the main body of inventory management research is composed of mathematical analysis of theoretical inventory models. The next question of how inventories are actually managed in practice was neglected by researchers for a long time, as it was not fitting the definition of the “science of better”.

Recently, with the increasing availability of firm level data through both researchers` efforts and firms` increasing trust in research, theoretical models are opened to empirical validation or comparison. In fact, it is an important step in inventory management to complete a research cycle, which should start with empirical analysis of problems, solution derivation through inventory theories and finally be concluded with empirical tests of applied theories.

On the practice side, empirical investigation of inventory theories is timely. As the global economies fluctuate, it is expected that new inventory management models should be built and the fit of current practices with theories should be tested. In following, discussions on motives and results of any fit/misfits should be raised.

The session especially welcomes contributions around below topics, but not limited to empirical investigations of

  • exactly or approximately optimal inventory policies,
  • determinants of inventory levels
  • the relationship between inventory levels and financial performances
  • people-centric activities/issues on inventory performance
  • cross-industry and/or cross-country inventory management activities
  • demand and inventory level dependencies.

If you are interested in joining these sessions, then please do the following:

If you are not sure whether your topic would fit, then please send me an abstract on the basis of which I can form an opinion.

When you submit you can denote that you want to join the sessions on Empirical Evidence for Inventory Theories

Abstract submission deadline: 31 March 2018

Contact details of the session organizer:

Associate Professor Nagihan Comez-Dolgan
Istanbul Sehir University, School of Management and Administrative Sciences,
Istanbul, Turkey
E-mail: nagihancomezdolgan@sehir.edu.tr