Global Journal of Management and Business Research, A: Administration and Management, Volume 22 Issue 8

Inventory Management and Control Systems in Covid-19 Pandemic Era: An Exploratory Study of Selected Health Institutions in Anambra State, Nigeria when the inventory is properly managed. With this, they are made available to meet up with customers’ demand and the costs of over or under stocks are lowered in the process. IM refers to all the policies and firm managerial processes of planning, organizing and controlling that relate to how the firm’s stock level will be kept or maintained at a level whereby the least cost will be incurred by the firm (Kwadwo, 2016). It is primarily about how best to guarantee the availability of all input materials of production to the firm so that the quantity of the stock in question is at a level where production is not interrupted with the barest operational cost of holding the inventory without prejudice to operation efficiency (Eneje, Nweze, and Udeh, 2012). Onikoyi, Babafemi, Ojo and Aje (2017) averred that IM, which they preferably called stock management, refers to the business activity aspect that comprises the planning for purchase, receiving, handling, storing, and releasing of inventory for use in production or distribution to customers. It is the science-based art of making sure that just sufficient inventory stock is held by a firm for meeting with demand for them. Through IM, hospitals are able to identify items of stock. In the management of inventory, the primary involvements range from being able to specify the size and placement of stocked goods. The goal of IM therefore is to reach a balance in the above requirements which will then result in an effective inventory control process that brings about optimal inventory level. This is often a continuous process that is subject to constant change and therefore requires the organization to respond to market changes on time. IM is used to create inventory purchase plan, and track the existing inventories and their utilization (Muhayimana, 2015). It is impossible to talk of the effectiveness of management in organizations without making reference to how effective the IM of the organization is since inventory control is remains a central part of core management functions in organizations. The critical place of inventory in a firm is so because inventory are resources which in addition to having an economic value have some idle resources tied to it. This is why corporate managers in hospitals try to implement policies and plans that will help them strike a balance between the benefits accruing from holding stock against the cost incurred from holding same (Musau, Namusonge, Makokha and Ngeno, 2017). Atnafu and Assefa (2018) simply defined IM as the act and process that are undergone to record and observe stock level, estimate future request, and settle on when and how to arrange for new order. It is this sort of process and procedures that enables firms to effectively know how to go about the storage and replacement of stock and also how to keep a sufficient amount of stock even as they minimize the cost. Inventory can be managed via re-order level system, periodic review system, economic order quantity model, perpetual inventory system, etc. However, this study focuses on the systems discussed below: 1. Re-Order Level System According to Onuorah (2019), re-order level system is a way of managing inventory in such a way that a level at which another order is made for inventory is set ahead of time and systematically complied with for every item of inventory. Re-order level system often involves the operational use of two bins for inventory management whereby re-order is made when inventory is exhausted from the first bin. The merits of the re-order level system is that it allows the firm to respond to changes in demand and also enables the organization to generate replenishment order automatically at the designated time simply by a comparison of inventory levels against re-order level. However, the re-order system may be over-loaded if different types of inventories that are jointly used to produce different items reach their re-order at the same time. 2. Periodic Review System Periodic review system is a method of inventory management whereby stock levels are subjected to some fixed interval reviews usually once every week, month or year, as the case may be. It can be seen as physical counting method of IM where-in inventories are cross-checked and also updated at a fixed interval of time (Onuorah, 2019). This system ensures that all inventory items are reviewed periodically which often provides more possibility of eliminating outdated items or obsolete inventories. Orders for replenishment in periodic review system are follow the same sequence. This singularly facilitates order of different items (of medical use for instance) and attracts large quantity of discounts to the purchasing firm. However, the periodic review system does not fully enable firms to respond to changes in consumption and so stock-out is more likely to occur especially when the usage rate changes shortly after the review. Demand for the inventory item has to be constant before the appropriate periodic review can be determined and this is often taxing. 3. The system of Economic Order Quantity The economic order quantity theory suggests that the quantity of inventory that ought to be maintained by corporate organizations is the stock level that provides the lowest total holding cost and acquiring cost (Mwangi, 2016). Economic Order Quantity Model is undeniably the most fundamental and also the best- known inventory decision model f which its origin is often dated back to the early 1900s. It is the ordering quantity that minimizes the balance of inventory cost that exists between inventories re-orders costs and inventory holding costs (Ogbo & Ukpere, 2014). The calculation of the EOQ Model is calculated using some assumptions as enlisted below, that; Holding stock is certain and known, Ordering costs is constant, known and certain, rate of demand is known, unit price is 45 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue VIII Version I Year 2022 ( ) A © 2022 Global Journals