Pre‐storm emergency supplies inventory planning

Purpose – Planning inventories for emergency supplies such as bottled water, non‐perishable foods, batteries, and flashlights can be challenging for retailers situated within the projected path of a severe storm. The retailer's inventory decisions are complicated by the inherent volatility of storm forecasts and the corresponding demand predictions. The purpose of this paper is to explore both proactive and reactive inventory control policies within the context of probable pre‐storm demand surge for a fast‐moving emergency supply item, and identify the conditions that are most conducive to each strategy according to the minimax decision criterion.Design/methodology/approach – The inventory system is formulated based on an underlying economic order quantity framework. Minimax decision rules are developed analytically. Sensitivity analysis is facilitated by both analytic and numerical methods.Findings – The conditions that are conducive to a proactive ordering strategy are limited supplier flexibility, acut...

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