Evaluating the return process of international books at Company X

In this research we have designed a dashboard to solve the following problem: ‘There is no clear overview of all the costs that are involved in the returning process from Company X to the suppliers for international books.’ The dashboard provides a clear overview of all the costs that are involved in the return process of international books. Currently, return decisions are solely made based on the sales forecast. Although this approach can prevent holding unsellable items and associated loss of sales value, it fails to include other cost parameters such as the holding costs, return costs and labor costs involved in inventory management. The dashboard supports decision-making by displaying data which can be used to evaluate certain tradeoffs. Using the dashboard, the return costs can be compared with the holding costs to determine which option is most profitable. The effect of the dashboard and the advice in the dashboard on the decisions needs to be determined in further research.