Davenport's constant for groups with large exponent

Abstract: Let $G$ be a finite abelian group. We show that its Davenport constant $D(G)$ satisfies $D(G)\leq \exp(G)+\frac{|G|}{\exp(G)}-1$, provided that $\exp(G)\geq\sqrt{|G|}$, and $D(G)\leq 2\sqrt{|G|}-1$, if $\exp(G)<\sqrt{|G|}$. This proves a conjecture by Balasubramanian and the first named author.