INVENTORY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES OF FOOD MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES IN A DEVELOPING ECONOMY

Background: Among the various food chain processes, inventory is regarded as the most important, complex and expensive. Inventory practically accounts for over 70% of food processing firms overall capital assets in both developed and developing economies. As such, its proper management is key to promoting the performance, growth and competitiveness of food processing firms and their supply chains. However, in developing economies notably Ghana, the strategies adopted by food processing firms in managing their inventories remains scanty and unclear. Thus, the aim of this article is to investigate the different inventory management strategies of manufacturing industries with focus on food processing firms in a developing economy in case of Ghana.

Methods: The study adopted the quantitative approach, descriptive design, and backed by the theory of constraints. It collects data through structured questionnaires from 104 food processing firms in Ghana and analysis was done using descriptive statistics (i.e. mean and standard deviation).

Results: The study’s results revealed that food processing firms in developing economies notably Ghana most prefer the Economic Order Quantity during inventory management; followed by Strategic Supplier Partnership and the Activity Based Costing strategies respectively.

Conclusions: This study’s findings contribute largely to empirical studies on inventory management of food processing firms in developing economies. The findings also inform policies and practices associated with inventory management, while facilitating the adoption of relevant inventory management strategies in food processing industries.