LL Bean must make stocking decisions on thousands of products sold through its catalogs. In many cases, orders must be placed with suppliers of twelve or more weeks prior to the catalog of land on the doorstep client and liabilities can not be changed later. As a result, LL Bean suffers annual losses of more than $ 20 million because of a lack of materials or eliminate excess stocks. Provides the context in which the decision to purchase, the balance of the cost of overstocking and inadequate supply of goods, when demand is uncertain made and implemented on a regular basis. "Hide
by Arthur Schleifer Jr. Source: HBS Premier Case Collection 5 pages. Publication Date: October 27, 1992. Prod. #: 893003-PDF-ENG
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