College of Business & Economics

Department of e-Business & Technology Management

Seminar Series

The Department of e-Business and Technology Management encourages scholarship through a research seminar series that features faculty presentations of recent work to faculty and students within the department and College of Business and Economics. Past seminar titles include:

Date of Presentation	3/12/2010
Time	11:00:00 AM
Location	ST 310
Presenter	Dr. Chaodong Han
Seminar Title	Emerging Market Penetration, Inventory Supply and Financial Performance
Abstract	Realizing potential benefits from emerging market penetration requires firms to address inherent supply chain risks. A natural option for firms is to maintain costly safety stocks to buffer against these supply risks. On the other hand, operating in emerging markets may offer opportunities for firms to lower inventory levels and reduce costs. Customers in emerging markets may be willing, for example, to accept lower levels of customer service (e.g., fill rates), which reduces inventory requirements. Using data for 482 manufacturing firms over the period, 2003-2007, obtained from the COMPUSTAT Industrial and Segment database, this paper examines the relationships between emerging market penetration, inventory supply, and financial performance. Our results show that a multinational firm�s sales penetration into emerging markets is associated with lower days of inventory supply and better financial performance. Since emerging market penetration may allow firms to operate with lower inventory supply, the positive impact from emerging market operations may be enhanced due to inventory cost savings.