Optimizing Inventory Levels with a Collaborative Approach in a Service Supply Chain in Tourism

Abstract

Inventory management is a common topic when it comes to company management, as a key element to optimize operational costs in production and/or services. The traditional inventory models deal with optimization of inventory levels for a single organization, regardless  of  its  relation  with  the  rest  of  the  supply chain  it  belongs.  Accordingly, satisfaction of the final client is achieved through implementation of basic flows in the supply chain, which call for cooperation and integration among the different links in the chain, in terms of inventory. The goal is to cut down losses on each side, and improve total operational costs of their management systems. Therefore, this research focused on inventory optimization based on a collaborative approach for service providing companies, and it used a just-in-time perspective that binds together buyer-middleman- supplier.   Comparisons   were   made   using   traditional   methods   to   determine   the advantages of the collaborative approach to deal with inventory costs in the supply chain. A study case was presented to identify the effects on final user’s satisfaction.