毕设附件 外文文献翻译 原文及译文 文献出处：Markus Weber. The research of the Inventory Management of SME J The Journal of Business Perspective, 2016, 3(2): 213-222. 原文 The research of the Inventory Management of SMEMarkus WeberIntroduction Inventory management simply means controlling the business stock or controlling the flow of goods and services as per their demand. Controlling inventory is need of the hour as it formulates the business success/failure as competition is intense, growing day-by-day. Knowledge about inventory management to academics and managers is vital for reducing costs, enhancing product quality, service enhancement, improving competitive ability and operational flexibility through pull systems (Forrester, 1961; Suri, 1998). Several scholars and practitioners conveyed these approaches under different labels such as time-based competition (Stalk, 1988) and lean manufacturing (Womack et al., 1990). Lead time reduction is often described in the operations management literature as arising from initiatives such as JIT/lean production or agility (Bartezzaghi et al., 1995; Naylor et al., 1999) rather than from identifying and reducing congestion at bottlenecks, reducing lot sizes and moving to a product layout from a functional one. Koufteros et al. (1998) claim time-based manufacturing is related to shop-floor employee involvement, setup time reduction, cellular manufacturing, quality improvement efforts, preventive maintenance, dependable suppliers and pull production, but do not relate these constructs to the principles that drive lead time. According to Schmenner (2001), companies that focus on flow with an emphasis on operational speed and variability reduction outperform companies emphasizing other goals. There are even relationships between lot sizes, cycle times, bottlenecks, lead times and process variability (Huson and Nanda, 1995; Schmenner and Swink, 1998). For proper inventory management, services of middlemen or intermediaries are required which is often known as supply chain. Supply chain in simple words means sequence of partners/members/intermediaries engaged or involved to supply and manage the flow of manufactured products to the ultimate customers. These partners/ members/intermediaries are known as channel functionaries encompassing suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and the ultimate customers. These members collaborate and work together by forming a chain (to ensure the goods to the markets (customers) known as supply chain. Supply chain is often known as all the parties/ channel members involved in satisfying the end customers. Supply chain management (SCM) often refers to the process oriented management approach to sourcing, producing, delivering goods and services to end customers (Cigolini et al., 2004) and to the coordination of various actors belonging to the same supply chain (Harland, 1996) as cooperation in SCM paves way to competitive advantage (Christopher and Juttner, 2000). The success of SCM is dependent on adopters developing specific capabilities (Chandra and Kumar, 2000) including designing flexible organization, developing a trusting relationship with its suppliers, seeking total supply chain collaboration, enhancing communication to reduce uncertainty and inventory levels, outsource non-core competencies, implement build-to-order manufacturing, reduce inventory and reduce costs. Moreover, SCM addresses the integration of organizational functions ranging from the ordering and receipt of raw materials through the manufacturing processes to the distribution and delivery of products to customers with a view to enable organizations to achieve higher quality in products and customer service in order to lower inventory costs for enhancing competitive advantage (Ohdar and Pradip, 2006; Stevens, 1989). Review of Literature Inventory has also been a subject in the debate on supply chain resilience, which has been of increasing interest in recent years, particularly as the leaning-down of companies and global sourcing have increased supply chain risks (Christopher and Peck, 2004). It is recognized that international supply chains may be particularly vulnerable owing to such factors as the geographic area covered, the transport modes used, political/border factors and environmental issues (Prater et al., 2001). Whilst risk mitigation strategies may contain many elements, the use of inventory is generally recognized as one possible tool. For example, Chopra and Sodhi (2004) list increase inventory as a risk mitigation approach, whilst Christopher and Peck (2004) state that the strategic disposition of additional capacity and/or inventory at potential pinch points can be extremely beneficial in the creation of resilience within the supply chain. Lee (2002) particularly emphasizes the role of inventory in situations of supply uncertainty. There are, thus, widely varying views about the role of inventory in the literat