CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the study
Supply chain management addresses the management of materials and information across the
entire chain from suppliers to producers, distributors, retailers, and customers. Traditionally,
each company performs purchasing, production and marketing activities independently, so that
it is difficult to make an optimal plan for the whole chain. In recent years, it has been realized
that actions taken by one member of the chain can influence all others in the chain. More and
more companies have gradually recognized that each of them serves as part of a supply chain
against other supply chains in terms of competition, rather than as a single firm against other
individual firms. Since 1990, as the information technology has continuously developed, it is
possible to coordinate all organizations and all functions involved in the whole chain.
Consequently, supply chain management has been increasingly receiving attention from both
academic researchers and practitioners.
Roughly speaking, research on supply chain management has been mainly focused on three
major issues. One is the behavior of information flow through a supply chain. The second issue
deals with inventory management, which regards a supply chain as a multi-echelon inventory
system. The third issue is orientated to planning and operations management of a supply chain
based on queuing systems.
In this paper the second issue, namely inventory management will be discussed. There is a
Chinese proverb saying, if you want to defeat an army, frustrate the chief first. It is also suitable
for business fight. In the past few decades, scholars gave ample attention about the impact of
inventory on Supply Chain Management (SCM). As a recently research shown, inventory cost
account for 30%of the total capital cost. As matter of fact, successful inventory management is
often the momentous symbol of competition victory and a well-run organization. Presently,supply chain environment is described with various factors which are of risk that may affect
negatively the internal supply chain operations of an undertaking which researchers have
regarded it as supply chain risks (Jolla, 2014). For an association to effectively work and
contend in the present risky supply chain environment, the association must institute successful
control measures in its internal supply chain functions. As indicated by Posazhennikova (2016),
one of the techniques at present received by endeavors is improvement of an effective internal
stock control system. Storage of materials, supervision and ensuring item accessibility so as to
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guarantee a satisfactory supply without intemperate supply or stock outs through a welladjusted procurement process is termed as inventory control (Bartmann, 2014). To effectively
control inventory, Score (2015) poised there must be a proper understanding of the
organizational and customer requirements, customer and supplier lead times and the inventory
procedures in an organization. Internal Inventory Control has been and keeps on being a critical
area in any business regardless of the size or location, scope of operation on account of the
expenses related with it (Solutions, 2013). Solutions, (2013) further emphasized that stock
control accounts for 45% to 90% of the overall costs of the organization. Likewise, Oballah,
(2015) expressed that internal stock control can be utilized by an association as a key way to
deal with accomplish improved proficiency and adequacy in tasks and upgraded hierarchical
execution; internal stock control can be utilized to streamline inside procedures, track thingsover the association and smoothen internal activities thus improving authoritative internal
productivity.
The concept of inventory management and control begun to attract the attention in 1910s. In
1915, the Economic Order Quantity was created by Harris to assist organizations with the issue
of deciding the ideal amount to order (Harris, 1915). In 1953, a probabilistic model was created
and in 1958 powerful model was created to improve stock control in mind boggling and
dynamic business situations (Liang, 1997). In the present business condition, associations
receive the present advancements to improve stock control. For example, automated stock
control systems, for example, Electronic Data Interchange, Enterprise Resource Planning and
Just in Time have progressively become common in organizations (Sage, 2015). In perspective
on the developed countries, Canada for example, internal stock control practices are very
common among organizations both public and private (Liang, 2016). In the US, the United
States General Accounting Office built up an official guide in 2012 to accomplish predictable
and exact stock control. The structure helps federal managers to improve precision and
unwavering quality stock control (United States General Accounting Office, 2012). Equally,
the National Food Service Management Institute of the University of Mississippi developed a
reference guide to help them in stock management as well as tracking in 2023. The contention
in help in improvement of this guide is that stock administration is one of the basic segments
of the executives not just in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) yet in addition
in some other administration (National Food Service Management Institute, 2013). In Africa
the idea of stock control has been an indispensable capability and challenging in bookkeeping
and procurement system since 1939s. As indicated by the report made by the notoriety during the industrialization time frame. Did example, in Nigeria, the way the inventories are accepted
to give an immediate connection among generation and deals and comprise great level of
authoritative expenses has caused numerous associations to contribute intensively on
frameworks that can upgrade stock control (Harris, 2015). Associations have and kept on
confronting stock administration challenges. In view of the reason that stock control is a
significant factor in consumer loyalty and improved benefit, associations, whether public or
private, big or small, local or global, big or small are somehow worried about stock control. It
has been the endeavor of most associations endeavoring to accomplish ideal stock control while
limiting stock costs which has ever been a test (Ngunyi, 2014).
1.2. Statement of the problem
Network is a system that interconnects entities that communicate or exchange resources with
one another. E-commerce operations are hindered by unreliable network connectivity.
Customers cannot access the website without a stable internet connection, which turns to affect
sales. Despite the efforts of providing WIFI connections, fixed phones and fast computers, slow
network speed still remains a significant problem faced by GLOTELHO. A stable and reliable
network is a crucial process of logistics systems, especially due to the high competition in the
global market. This posed a serious threat in the company supply chain performance which
may lead to breakdown in communication and customer dissatisfaction.
Network is important in the supply chain because a robust network system is critical to the
increase performance, reliability and success of company’s supply chain as it facilitates
seamless communication, data exchange and coordination among all stake holders including
suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and customers.
1.3. Research Question
1.3.1. Main Research Question
What is the impact of different inventory management techniques on supply chain performance
of GLOTELHO?

1.3.2. Specific Research Questions
1. How do inventory management technics such as FIFO & LIFO, affect inventory accuracy
and order fulfilment of GLOTELHO’s customers?
2. In what ways do inventory management technics (FIFO & LIFO) impact lead time and stock
level management?
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3. What are the challenges faced by GLOTELHO in the management of its inventory for a
better supply chain performance?
1.4. Research Objectives
These are divided into the main and specific objectives.
1.4.1. Main Objective
To evaluate the impact of inventory management techniques on supply chain performance in
GLOTELHO Ltd Douala.
1.4.2. The Specific Research Objectives
1. To investigate the effect of FIFO on supply chain performance.
2. To investigate the effects of LIFO on supply chain performance.

3. To identify the challenges of inventory management techniques at GLOTELHO.