Holding inventory is risky because of the tiedup capital investment and the potential for obsolescence. The nature and the extent of the risk varies depending on the position of the company in the supply chain. Manufacturers’ inventories have a longterm dimension. Their inventory commitment is relatively deeper and of longer duration. Wholesalers have a more broad exposure, but a shorter duration compared to the manufacturers. For retailers, inventory management is no more than a buyingselling process. Retailers have an extensive breadth of inventory and their inventory holding costs are typically higher than those of the manufacturers and wholesalers. Thus, they try to push the inventory responsibility back up the channel to avoid those high costs.