GENERIC ORGANIZATIONAL CHOICES FOR LOGISTICS IN DECENTRALIZED ORGANIZATIONS - IMPLICATIONS FOR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

A fundamental problem of logistics in a divisionalized firm is, on the one hand, how to balance the advantages achieved by the headquarters' direct supervision and coordination and, on the other hand, the busin ess units' autonomy requirements in logistics. The aim of this study i s to outline generic organizational choices which are aimed at solving this problem and discuss the implications of different organizational design options for inventory management. The implications are illustr ated by a case study, which shows how various changes in logistics org anization have affected the inventory management in the case company.