Influence of Inventory Management on Technical Performance at Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited

Abstract

There have been a lot of difficulties in determining the desired stock levels that ensures a free flow of materials without incurring heavy expenses in stocking those materials and without any stock being rendered obsolete. The study sought to assess the influence of Inventory Management on the technical performance of Kenya Power and Lighting Co. Ltd. Specifically, the study evaluated the influence of; inventory forecasting, inventory control systems, inventory management strategy on technical performance of Kenya Power and Lighting Company and assess the moderating influence of industry specific factors on technical performance of Kenya Power and Lighting Company. The study used the descriptive research design in conducting the study. The population of the study consisted of employees working in operations and inventory management. The study population was considered manageable and therefore census approach was used, and no sampling was done. The study used primary method in data collection collected using questionnaires. The qualitative data from the open-ended questions was analyzed using content analysis because the focus was on interpretation of the results rather than quantification while quantitative data from the close ended questions was analyzed by use SPSS. The study found out that three main inventory management approaches have been adopted at KPLC which include Inventory management strategy, Inventory Forecasting and Inventory control systems. However, the study established that these inventory management approaches had varying extents of adoption at KPLC with industry focusing strategies being the most utilized and inventory management strategy being the least utilized. The study also found out that the inventory management strategies had a significant positive effect on the operational performance when combined. The industry specific factors were further found out to have a significant moderating effect on the technical performance at KPLC.

Keywords: Inventory Management, Technical performance, Inventory forecasting, Inventory control systems, Inventory management strategy, Industry specific factors