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Incentives for Efficient Inventory Management: The Role of Historical Cost

Author

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  • Tim Baldenius

    (Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027)

  • Stefan Reichelstein

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305)

Abstract

This paper examines inventory management from an incentive perspective. We show that when a manager has private information about future attainable revenues, the residual income performance measure based on historical cost can achieve optimal (second-best) incentives with regard to managerial effort as well as production and sales decisions. The LIFO (last-in--first-out) inventory flow rule is shown to be preferable to the FIFO (first-in--first-out) rule for the purpose of aligning incentives. Our analysis also finds support for the lower-of-cost-or-market inventory-valuation rule in situations where the manager receives new information after the initial contracting stage.

Suggested Citation

  • Tim Baldenius & Stefan Reichelstein, 2005. "Incentives for Efficient Inventory Management: The Role of Historical Cost," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(7), pages 1032-1045, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:51:y:2005:i:7:p:1032-1045
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1050.0360
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Magni, Carlo Alberto, 2009. "Splitting up value: A critical review of residual income theories," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 198(1), pages 1-22, October.
    2. Madhav V. Rajan & Stefan Reichelstein, 2009. "Depreciation Rules and the Relation between Marginal and Historical Cost," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 823-865, June.
    3. Magni, Carlo Alberto, 2010. "Residual income and value creation: An investigation into the lost-capital paradigm," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 201(2), pages 505-519, March.
    4. Carlo Alberto Magni, 2009. "Accounting and economic measures:An integrated theory of capital budgeting," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 0019, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    5. Carlo Alberto Magni, 2010. "Average Internal Rate of Return and investment decisions: A new perspective," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 0021, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    6. Valentín Pando & Luis A. San-José & Joaquín Sicilia & David Alcaide-López-de-Pablo, 2021. "Profitability Index Maximization in an Inventory Model with a Price- and Stock-Dependent Demand Rate in a Power-Form," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-29, May.
    7. Christian Lohmann, 2015. "Managerial incentives for capacity investment decisions," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 27-49, April.
    8. Osman Alp & Alper Şen, 2021. "Delegation of Stocking Decisions Under Asymmetric Demand Information," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 55-69, 1-2.
    9. Christian Bach, 2011. "Conservatism in Corporate Valuation," CREATES Research Papers 2011-32, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    10. Elsayed, Khaled & Wahba, Hayam, 2013. "Reinvestigating the relationship between ownership structure and inventory management: A corporate governanceperspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 207-218.
    11. Marc Bollecker & Wilfrid Azan, 2008. "Les frontières de la recherche en contrôle de gestion : une analyse des cadres théoriques mobilisés," Post-Print halshs-00522395, HAL.
    12. Feng, Cong & Fay, Scott, 2021. "Chief stores officer and retailer performance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    13. Niklas Lampenius & Tobias Buerkle, 2014. "Arguments in Favour of Tax Neutral Cost Allocation," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 50(3), pages 296-313, September.

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