10. Inventory period [LO 20.3] At least part of Dell’s corporate profits can be traced to its inventory management. Using just-in-time inventory, Dell typically maintains an inventory of three to four days’

sales. Competitors such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM have attempted to match Dell’s inventory policies, but they lag far behind. In an industry where the price of PC components continues to decline, Dell clearly has a competitive advantage. Why would you say that it is to Dell’s advantage to have such a short inventory period? If doing this is valuable, why do not all other PC manufacturers switch to Dell’s approach?