THE IMPACT OF INVENTORY CONTROL PRACTICES ON COST REDUCTION: THE CASE OF LEBANESE RETAIL COMPANIES

Abstract

Inventory is a significant aspect in administration of items and services or other commodities that are kept in storage by companies and organizations. The research deals with four research variables which are vendor management inventory, lean practices, inventory management and strategic supplier management in their relation to the performance of retail companies. The research is based on the use of the mixed study approach, which aims at defining the effects of inventory control on cost reduction and operational performance of retail firms in Lebanon. The research addressed 123 respondents from the two companies. Also, the researcher has carried out six interviews with three managers from each of these two companies. The data was collected using Google forms, and then analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive analysis, inferential statistics and normality distributions were used to analyze the collected data, and the research has found a direct relationship between vendor inventory management, inventory stock taking, lean practices and strategic supplier relationships and the operational performance of the companies in question. The research recommended three new models to be implemented in further studies, and these models include the independent variables as a dependent variable.