<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE ArticleSet PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD PubMed 2.7//EN" "https://dtd.nlm.nih.gov/ncbi/pubmed/in/PubMed.dtd"> <ArticleSet> <Article> <Journal> <PublisherName>Kharazmi University</PublisherName> <JournalTitle>International Journal of Supply and Operations Management</JournalTitle> <Issn>23831359</Issn> <Volume>1</Volume> <Issue>4</Issue> <PubDate PubStatus="epublish"> <Year>2015</Year> <Month>02</Month> <Day>01</Day> </PubDate> </Journal> <ArticleTitle>Inventory Management Practices and Operational Performance of Flour Milling Firms in Lagos, Nigeria</ArticleTitle> <VernacularTitle></VernacularTitle> <FirstPage>392</FirstPage> <LastPage>406</LastPage> <ELocationID EIdType="pii">2188</ELocationID> <ELocationID EIdType="doi">10.22034/2014.4.01</ELocationID> <Language>EN</Language> <AuthorList> <Author> <FirstName>Nsikan</FirstName> <LastName>John</LastName> <Affiliation>Department of Business Management ,University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria</Affiliation> <Identifier Source="ORCID">0000-0001-7682-3909</Identifier> </Author> <Author> <FirstName>John</FirstName> <LastName>Etim</LastName> <Affiliation>Department of Business Administration, Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, Nigeria</Affiliation> </Author> <Author> <FirstName>Tommy</FirstName> <LastName>Ime</LastName> <Affiliation>Department of Management Science University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria</Affiliation> </Author> </AuthorList> <PublicationType>Journal Article</PublicationType> <History> <PubDate PubStatus="received"> <Year>2014</Year> <Month>12</Month> <Day>18</Day> </PubDate> </History> <Abstract>This study examines inventory management practices of flour milling manufacturing firms and their effects on operational performance. Five flour milling manufacturing firms in Lagos were used for this study. Structured questionnaire was the major instrument for the collection of relevant primary data while descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation was deployed to analyzing the data gathered. The results obtained showed that exception of the large manufacturing companies, most of the medium-sized flour milling firms adopts different inventory management strategies from the scientific and best practice models. Their inventory management strategies and policies were rather based on factors such as changing level of customer demand, prevailing industry practices, forecast estimates and guesses, and available production capacity. Findings also revealed significant differences between the effective management of inventory and optimal operating performance. For instance, while firms that adopt best practice inventory management approaches reported efficiency in capacity utilization, increased service level, and reduced lead time, others with different strategies had minimal utilization of material resources. There is need for flour manufacturing firms to implement scientific inventory management models to adequately handle material shortages, product stock outs situations, component pile up and their associated penalties.</Abstract> <ObjectList> <Object Type="keyword"> <Param Name="value">Inventory management practices</Param> </Object> <Object Type="keyword"> <Param Name="value">Operational performance</Param> </Object> <Object Type="keyword"> <Param Name="value">Stock out</Param> </Object> <Object Type="keyword"> <Param Name="value">Service availability level</Param> </Object> </ObjectList> <ArchiveCopySource DocType="pdf">http://www.ijsom.com/article_2188_a9ed358023eb9851030f9495fd20b97e.pdf</ArchiveCopySource> </Article> </ArticleSet>