However, while the critical role of inventories to a firm’s survival is well recognized
in theory, IM does not necessarily drive practice in many SMEs. When business
strategies are formulated, IM is not generally treated as a critical or strategic activity
(Sprague and Wacker, 1996). In the context of SMEs in India and the formal IM
practices they adopt, very few studies deal in-depth with this issue. Therefore, this
paper begins to bridge this gap by investigating the status of IM in SMEs in Bangalore,
India.