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

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 JIT 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 a significant relationship with cost reduction in 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 a JIT strategy and vendor-managed inventory, as it would improve supply chain performance.