ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a description of a fictitious retailer called Swede-Mart. Swede-Mart is a rapidly expanding clothing store headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, with 300 stores around the globe, 200 of which are in Europe. Swede-Mart offers high-quality products, competitive prices, and a trendy image. The initial focus of the strategic plan is ensuring customer retention and growth through inventory management, which will allow Swede-Mart to have the right products available at the right location, at the right time, and for the right price. Successful improvement of the inventory management system will allow Swede-Mart to increase its rate of growth across the globe, and will also provide cash flow for acquisitions and store growth. The initial focus from the strategic plan will concentrate on reviewing the inventory-management and order-taking areas. The new order management system that will be created for Swede-Mart must be state of the art and must be able to support the aggressive growth goals of the company.
