Capacity Development and Inventory Management in Small Scale Enterprises (Sses): A Study of Selected Metal Fabrication Enterprises in Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria

The main problem that called for this research is that in recent times, a number of inventory issues have arisen which had affected capacity development of small scale enterprises. One of them is poor inventory management. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between inventory management and capacity development in small scale enterprises. This is because inventory forms the major resource of the organization and significant investment, especially in the manufacturing sector. Wherein, inventory management is the independent variable; capacity development is the dependent variable. Improved production, cost reduction and meeting customer demand served as indicators that was employed to measure the capacity development of SSEs (the dependent variable) whereas, control of materials flow, coordination of purchases and demand forecasting served as measures for inventory management (independent variable). This study was conducted in Onitsha, Anambra State. A survey design was adopted and a total sample of 150 respondents was randomly selected from the 240 registered and functional small scale metal fabrication enterprises operating at Onitsha. Only 139 properly completed questionnaires were used for the analysis. A five point's likert-scale designed questionnaire formed the major tool for data collection. Collected data were presented using percentage frequency tables and analyzed accordingly. Formulated hypotheses were tested using Pearson's Product Moment Correlation aided by Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The result of data analysis shows that inventory management has positive and strong correlation with capacity development in small scale enterprises. The policy implication of this study is that small scale enterprises should employ inventory management practice which helps to achieve improved production, cost reduction and meeting customer demand.