INVENTORY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY AND PERFORMANCE OF BREWERY COMPANIES IN SOUTH EAST, NIGERIA.

Abstract

The study evaluated the Inventory management strategy and performance of Brewery Companies in South East, Nigeria.  The specific objectives were to: examine the relationship between Materials Requirement planning (MRP) and Reliability of products; evaluate the relationship between just-in-time inventory strategy and stock availability and determine the relationship between Safety stock strategy and customer’s retention in Nigerian brewery companies. The descriptive survey design was used. The study adopted simple random sampling technique in selecting the sample unit and the sample size for the study which was, 334 employees out of a total population of 2035 employees of the three selected brewing firms in South-East Nigeria derived with the use of Taro Yamanes' formula. A total of 288 staff returned the questionnaire accurately filled, which gave 86 percent response rate. Data were presented and analyzed using mean score and standard deviation using Sprint Likert Scale. The hypotheses were analyzed using the t-test statistics tool. The findings indicated that the Materials Requirement planning (MRP) had a significant positive relationship with the Reliability of products in brewery companies in South East, Nigeria (t = 2.929 < 42.418, p<.05). Just-in-time inventory strategy had a significant positive relationship with the stock availability in brewery companies in South East, Nigeria, ((t = 2.439 < 24.152, p <.05).  Safety stock strategy had a significant positive relationship with the customers retention in brewery companies in South East, Nigeria, (t = 3.350 < 41.367, p <.05). The study concluded that the Inventory management strategy had a significant positive relationship with the performance of Nigeria Brewery Companies.  The study recommended among others that the management of brewery companies of South East Nigeria should endeavour to create an accurate materials Requirement planning (MRP) to ensure that materials were available when required.