OJINEME ASHINEDU PRAISE

The management of inventory has emerged as an essential operational and strategic element to the survival and development of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This research thus explores how inventory management practices impact the performance of SMEs in Benin City, Edo State. The research specifically examines how Economic order quantity (EDOQ), Just in Time (JIT), ABC Analysis and Safety Stock Management affect the operational and financial performance of SMEs. The survey research design was adopted and data gathered by the use of structured questionnaires administered to a sample of 133 SME owners and managers who were chosen via stratified and simple random sampling methods. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were applied to analyze the data collected with the help of Statistical Package of social sciences (SPSS). The results showed that there are significant and positive impacts on the performance of the SMEs of all the four inventory management practices; EOQ, JIT, ABC Analysis, and Safety Stock. The research also identified that business attributes like firm size and the number of employees have a significant influence on performance, whereas the degree of formal education among the operators does not always translate to better performance, perhaps because of insufficient practical experience and business context. It is consequently suggested that the SME owners and managers need to invest in effective inventory control systems, training of employees, and adopting modern inventory technologies to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, and profitability. Additionally, in order to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of the SMEs in Nigeria, the government and other support agencies ought to offer policy and financial assistance in encouraging the good inventory management practices.