Inventory Management Strategies and Supply Chain Performance: Evidence from Food and Beverage Firms in South-South Nigeria.

Abstract:

This study examined the relationship between inventory management strategies and supply chain performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in South-South, Nigeria. This study applied the positivism research philosophy, correlational research design, and quantitative research approach. The population of the study consisted of 86 registered food and beverage manufacturing firms in South-South, Nigeria. The sampling unit comprised warehouse managers and stock keepers of the firms. The census sampling technique was adopted in this study. Data were collected from the respondents using a structured questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed statistically while the hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation. (r) and the SPSS version 24. The findings revealed that just-in-time strategy is significantly related to product availability of food and beverage manufacturing firms in South-South, Nigeria. The study also found a significant relationship between just-in-time strategy and cost reduction of food and beverage manufacturing firms in South-South, Nigeria. The study equally discovered a significant relationship between vendor-managed inventory and product availability of food and beverage manufacturing firms in South-South, Nigeria. Vendor-managed inventory was also found to have significant relationship with cost reduction food and beverage manufacturing firms in South-South, Nigeria. Based on the findings, it was concluded that inventory management strategies such as just-in-time (JIT) strategy and vendor-managed inventory are significant predictors of supply chain performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in South-South, Nigeria. Therefore, it was recommended that food and beverage manufacturing firms in Nigeria should adopt JIT strategy and vendor-managed inventory as it would improve supply chain performance.