Customer-Country diversification and inventory efficiency: Comparative evidence from the manufacturing sector during the pre-pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic periods
研究了美国制造业企业客户地理多元化对库存效率的影响，发现疫情前多元化降低效率，疫情期间则提升效率，对优化全球供应链有参考价值。
This study empirically examines the impact of geographic customer diversification on inventory efficiency and proposes a customer-country diversification strategy as a central element of U.S. manufacturing firms’ effort to transform their global supply chains in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using industry-level data during the pre-pandemic period (2003–2018) and the COVID-19 pandemic, this study finds that a geographically diversified customer base significantly reduced inventory efficiency during the pre-pandemic period, but increased inventory efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our finding suggests that U.S. manufacturing firms may be able to reduce negative impacts on inventory in a global pandemic and achieve greater inventory efficiency if they can target global customer bases with demand characteristics less correlated with U.S. domestic demand.