Thesis:

Inventory management practices and supply chain performance of the county government of Mombasa, Kenya

Effective management of inventory practices has a great role in supply chain optimization performance, particularly in the public sector, where resources are often constrained. This study delved into an intricate relationship between inventory management practices and the supply chain performance within the County Government of Mombasa, Kenya. Costs and losses connected with the supply chain performance impact firms, thus its success is considered crucial in the County Government of Mombasa (CGM). In the County Government of Mombasa (CGM), the problem of inefficiency and unexplored contradiction in addressing supply chain performance and its challenges has disadvantages in terms of operational flexibility, the associated costs of material handling, and the inefficiencies of the County Government of Mombasa’s reliability and responsiveness. The objectives of the research were: to establish the relationship between information integration and supply chain performance of the County Government of Mombasa, Kenya, to determine the relationship between transportation system and supply chain performance of the County Government of Mombasa, Kenya, to evaluate the relationship between material handling and supply chain performance of the County Government of Mombasa, Kenya, and to examine the relationship between warehousing system and supply chain performance of the County Government of Mombasa, Kenya. This study's findings were useful in formulating policy concerning inventories, replenishment, and ordering that optimizes service delivery. The procurement and supply chain department personnel within the County Government of Mombasa helped to achieve the knowledge needed to deliver overall performance to the supply chain. The authorities are anticipated to enjoy using information gathered to streamline overall performance within the supply chain of the complete institutional structure of the County Government of Mombasa. The beneficiaries of this study are the County Government of Mombasa, county residents, procurement and supply chain personnel, policy makers and government agencies, private sector suppliers and contractors, and public sector agencies in other regions. This study focused on the Institutional Theory, Resource-Based View Theory (RBV), and Theory of Constraints (ToC). The research design used in this study was descriptive. The study employed stratified random sampling to choose 96 respondents, who were divided into three strata: chief procurement officer, senior officers, and staff members. This was done since the study's target population was the procurement staff of the County Government of Mombasa. The close-ended questionnaires were used, and 85 close-ended questions were answered and returned for data analysis. In assessing reliability, the study used Cronbach's alpha, whose value of 0.7 and above signified reliability. A pilot group of 10% of the total target population was adequate for the reliability test. Quantitative data were gathered for this study. To ensure the data collected from the respondents was complete, the questionnaires were reviewed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. In descriptive statistics, the mean, mode, standard deviation, and variance were employed. Regression analysis and Pearson Correlation Coefficient Analysis were used to undertake inferential data analysis. The study used inferential statistics to determine if an observation was reliable or just happened by accident. According to inferential statistics, supply chain performance and information integration, transportation system, and warehousing system were all significantly correlated, whereas material handling was not significantly correlated to the supply chain performance. The study concluded that, the County Government of Mombasa has technologies that are being used to facilitate information flow and system integration with suppliers and its contribution to supply chain efficiency, the County Government of Mombasa has technologies or tools that are used for route planning in the supply chain and its contribution to performance improvement, the effectiveness of the current material packaging practices in protecting inventory during transportation and storage within the County Government of Mombasa’s supply chain, and the County Government of Mombasa has strategies to manage storage costs. The key policy recommendations of this study are: adopt integrated ICT systems, optimize transport routes, enforce standard packaging, and modernize warehousing operations.