Hello everyone. This is Dr. Zhao. In this video, you will learn which topics will be covered in this course, and how they will be arranged on a weekly basis. In Week 1, we will answer the question of how much inventory do we carry? You'll learn the value, the trend, and breakdown of inventory, as well as its economical indications. In Week 2, you'll learn the tools and the skills to answer the question, in which industries may inventory be important? In Week 3, you will learn to answer two questions. First, how may inventory drive a company's financial performance? Second, how do I know that I have an inventory problem? In Week 4, which is the last week, you'll know practical skills to classify and manage inventory. Specifically, in Week 1, you will see the trends of inventory in the United States before and after the 2008 financial crisis, which indicate the increasing importance of inventory in the new economy. You'll also learn the correlation between inventory changes and economic recession, and use inventory changes to tell how different countries may be economically connected, and whether they use different inventory management practices or not. In Week 2, you'll first learn to identify industries where inventory matters by the KPI of percentage of assets in inventory. You'll find interesting similarities and amazing difference between the US and China, the world's biggest two economies. For instance, inventory is important in food, staple retailing, and consumer durables and apparel for both countries. However, in the US, inventory matters the most in retailing. But in China, inventory matters the most in real estate. In Week 2, you'll also learn to identify industries where inventory matters by inventory turns and inventory days. For instance, healthcare in the US has the highest inventory days, and thus indicates a higher importance of inventory management in this industry. In Week 3, you'll first learn the benefits and costs of holding inventory, and then learn to quantify the impact of inventory on a company's financial performance. The truth is, if inventory has no impact on a company's financial performance, it probably does not make sense to manage inventory. In Week 3, you'll also learn to discover inventory problems, that is, to answer the question of how do I know that I have an inventory problem? This question is important, because a company may not have an inventory problem if its inventory is already managed in the best way and there is no room for improvement. The principle of problem discovery is benchmarking. For instance, if my revenue is half of yours, but I hold as much inventory as you do, then I must have an inventory problem. Here, you'll learn hands-on skills and tools, so you can discover inventory problems for a company of your choice. For demonstration, we'll make a detailed comparison between Amazon and Macy's to unlock the secrets behind their different financial performance. In Week 4, which is the last week, you'll learn practical skills to classify and manage inventory. Not all products are equally important in inventory management. And inventory of different types should be managed in different ways. So you'll apply the 80/20 rule to inventory, and classify inventory by an ABC analysis. You will also learn how inventory of different types should be managed in practice and the potential impact.