A financial analysis of inventory leanness before, during and after the Covid-19 crisis

PurposeThe recent Covid-19 crisis has exposed the limitations of inventory leanness (i.e. keeping fewer inventories than expected), leading its followers to question whether it is the end of inventory leanness. This study aims to answer that question from a financial perspective.Design/methodology/approachThis study considers 2019, 2020 and 2021 as the pre-, during- and post-Covid periods, respectively, and compares the financial performance and risks of firms that followed a lean inventory strategy (lean firms) to those that do not (non-lean firms). The sample is drawn from manufacturing firms in the USA, and the data are analyzed using univariate tools (such as a t-test) and multivariate regressions.FindingsThe results show that the financial performance of lean firms was better than that of non-lean firms under normal operating conditions in 2019, which continued to sustain during the crisis and post-crisis operating conditions in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Lean firms were also less risky than non-lean firms, except for in 2020, where they were equally risky.Practical implicationsA financial perspective suggests that managers of lean firms who might be thinking of changing over to a non-lean or more conservative strategy in the post-Covid era in relation to their firms' level of inventories do not need to do so unless otherwise required.Originality/valueThis is the very first study that shows the implications of inventory leanness for firms across three operating conditions: pre-crisis (normal business condition), crisis (abnormal business condition) and post-crisis (sub-normal business condition).