Comments on: Seven Eleven unfairly banned franchise stores from discounting old bentos http://www.japanprobe.com/2009/06/24/seven-eleven-unfairly-banned-franchise-stores-from-discounting-old-bentos/ Japan News Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:45:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Adamu http://www.japanprobe.com/2009/06/24/seven-eleven-unfairly-banned-franchise-stores-from-discounting-old-bentos/comment-page-1/#comment-324325 Adamu Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:21:13 +0000 http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=10994#comment-324325 7-11 is well-known for having a centrally planned inventory management system that allows for next to no local decision-making. All purchases are registered in the central computers, so the planners can tell when obento are running low. That system is highly efficient in terms of planning shipments and probably makes more money overall than a discount system (though discounting bentos might mean more money in franchisees pockets in the short term). It also lets the central planners learn consumer behavior and predict what needs to be stocked more or less. At least that is the theory. I don't know the details of the case, but it seems a little iffy. Part of what the franchisees are paying for is that inventory system, so I can understand why 7-11 isn't all that happy about the decision. 7-11 is well-known for having a centrally planned inventory management system that allows for next to no local decision-making. All purchases are registered in the central computers, so the planners can tell when obento are running low. That system is highly efficient in terms of planning shipments and probably makes more money overall than a discount system (though discounting bentos might mean more money in franchisees pockets in the short term). It also lets the central planners learn consumer behavior and predict what needs to be stocked more or less. At least that is the theory.

I don’t know the details of the case, but it seems a little iffy. Part of what the franchisees are paying for is that inventory system, so I can understand why 7-11 isn’t all that happy about the decision.

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