PRINCIPLES AND MODELS OF STOCK MANAGEMENT BEFORE AND AFTER THE PANDEMIC

The main purpose of this work is to examine the current models of inventory management in manufacturing and trading companies and make a comparison with the pre-pandemic period in the context of the supply chain, through relevant and available information. Also, a comparison of stock levels of representative companies, before and after the pandemic, will be presented, in order to draw certain conclusions and possible guidelines. The emergence of the pandemic has led to major changes in the entire supply chain, especially in the domain of inventory management due to unstable and uncertain delivery times. Before the pandemic, in the largest number of companies, the most prevalent principle of inventory management was the JIT (Just in time) approach, however, after the pandemic, the JIC (Just in case) principle was increasingly used, which leads to a higher level of inventory, in order to protect companies from possible disruptions in the supply chain, such as longer delivery times, lack of energy sources, etc. Also, after the pandemic, there is a noticeable trend of Reshoring, i.e. returning production to companies' home countries and diversifying supply chains, in order to reduce supply dependence on one region or continent, due to growing geopolitical challenges. The pandemic has fundamentally reshaped inventory management, forcing companies to rethink their existing strategies, and to adopt more robust, flexible and technology-driven approaches, which enable a comparative advantage in the market, which we want to identify in this paper.