Used merchandise retailers have a much different inventory acquisition strategy than other retailers, and that translates into different cost structures and profitability models.

FORBES: Used Sweaters: More Profitable Than You Might Expect

Since the launch of the Z10 a month ago in markets like the U.K., Canada and India, RIM has been running a conservative inventory management strategy for the phone.

WSJ: RIM Places Risky BlackBerry Bet

Whether you are in sales, marketing, or management take an inventory: Does your strategy take into account all three levels of competitive pressure?

FORBES: 3 Keys to Competing

In the next 12 months we are going to see the same breakout moment when everyone has to have a big data strategy, doing an inventory of what data do we have, what data we should be collecting and we are not, and how we could use it.

FORBES: What's to be Done about Big Data?

Strategic human capital management seeks to enhance all four characteristics, in addition to clarifying precisely what talent inventory is needed to execute short-term strategy.

FORBES: HR Analytics And Competitive Advantage

"The only reason we sell is to fuel our ability to buy, " says David's son Helly, 29, who runs a gallery in the posh Carlyle Hotel on Madison Avenue. (Helly's cousin, also named Helly Nahmad after their grandfather Hillel in the Sephardic Jewish tradition, runs a gallery in London.) And while there is a cost to holding that inventory, the family's currency business helps support their art strategy.

FORBES: The Art of the Deal

For example, with too much inventory and too little cash, barter can be part of a survival strategy in a bad economy.

FORBES: Bartering for Survival - Have I Got A Deal for You

The company now tightly controls everything about advertising, the amount of inventory entering the country and which cities are targeted and when, a person familiar with the strategy says.

WSJ: Apple Acts to Crack India Market for iPhone

An effective strategy to ensure the active participation of communities in the implementation of the Convention is to have them inventory their own Intangible Cultural Heritage.

UNESCO: Patrimoine culturel immat��riel