msc. journal publication

International Journal of Research &

Development Organisation ISSN-465-0175

Journal of Business Management

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INFLUENCE OF ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING ON INVENTORY

MANAGEMENTIN PRIVATE PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA: A CASE

OF BRIDGE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIES

ANDREW MUGAMBI

Jomo Kenyatta University of Information Technology, Msc Procurement &

Logistics

Dr. David Kiarie Mburu

Lecture, Jomo Kenyatta University of Information and Technology

Key words: Cost Management, Customer Satisfaction, Employee Productivity, Inventory

Management

ABSTRACT

Private Primary schools apply various techniques in the management of their inventories. The

practices adopted have a significant impact on returns, profitability and customer satisfaction.

This study was carried out at Bridge International Academies in Nairobi County. The main aim

of the research was to assess the influence of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system on

inventory management in private primary schools in Kenya. The population sample size was 100

respondents and stratified sampling technique was used. Structured questionnaires containing

both open ended and closed ended questions were used to collect primary data. 82

questionnaires were filled and returned for analysis. The study employed Analysis of Variance

(ANOVA), correlation and regression analysis as methods of analysis. The study concluded that;

cost management, corporate supplier relationship, customer service and employee productivity

had a positive influence on inventory management in private primary schools in Kenya. Based

on the findings, the study recommended that the management of private primary schools should

appropriately manage payments for received items, capture and analyze inventory costs and

control their budgets effectively through embracing enterprise resource planning system in their

operations. There is need for management to form strong mutual beneficial relationships with

suppliers and ensure excellent services are delivered by suppliers through incorporating




2

enterprise resource planning in their day-to-day operations. To ensure customer satisfaction is

guaranteed, the management has to continuously monitor the business success through a

balanced scorecard through adoption of enterprise resource planning system. The study also

recommends that the management reduces waste and cut costs such as labor costs, increase

quality performance through recruitment of competent staff and ensure Information Technology

productivity through adoption of enterprise resource planning system in their operations.

INTRODUCTION

Inventory has been the subject of keen scrutiny since the dawn of commerce. Because items

sitting on a store shelf or in a warehouse literally represent unrealized sales dollars, retailers have

long experimented with ways to fine-tune their inventory practices. The eternal goal has always

been to hold just enough inventories to satisfy demand (Bradley, 2012).

These inventory basics still apply today, but what has changed is the dizzying pace of commerce,

its global reach and heightened consumer expectations driven by social shopping, online review

sites and comparison pricing on the Internet. There is little doubt that supply chain velocity has

steadily increased in recent years, in terms of how fast goods move from production to

consumption. One look at Amazon Prime’s popular two-day delivery service (through which

most of its orders are fulfilled), and it’s easy to see that week-long delivery times for Internet

orders are a thing of the past (Bradley, 2012).

At the same time that these forces are buffeting retailers (and by extension their suppliers),

technology is coming to their aid by helping them adapt to the new marketplace dynamics. The

adoption of technologies such as global inventory management systems and advanced planning

solutions supported by business process change, where needed are helping to grease the wheels




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of commerce and, therefore, the movement of inventory. The impact of inventory reduction on

profits is very direct, given that inventory cost is the largest component of working capital. And

yet inventory cannot be reduced at the expense of customer expectations, so the balancing act

remains. To cope, retailers and manufacturers need to rethink their inventory management

strategies, reinvent their inventory management operations and rewire their inventory

management systems (Bradley, 2012).

Emerging collaborative global inventory management systems are enabling manufacturers and

retailers to attain full visibility into their global inventory. Used in many cases with inventory

planning tools, global inventory management systems interact with ERP systems (both the

organization’s and its partners’) to provide a near-real-time, end-to-end picture of inventory,

wherever it resides (Hofman, 2012).

With a global inventory visibility capability, multi-echelon inventory optimization solutions

employ statistical algorithms and business rules to optimize inventory placement and order

fulfillment. Many of these technologies have existed for years, but today they are being

implemented to enable a complete, or “platform,” view of inventory in the global supply chain

by creating linkages between systems that were previously disparate islands. For instance,

inventory is traditionally tracked in different ways, depending on whether it is being transported

via sea, land or air, or is within the warehouse. But world-class retailers and manufacturers today

want to view inventory as one common object that can be tracked seamlessly from a command

center of sorts, using the same type of identification, across the supply chain (Hofman, 2012).




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Most private primary schools in Kenya recognize they don’t have systems in place to stop them

spending money on equipment they already have. Efficient inventory management in private

primary schools should be able to rapidly respond to customer requirements; at the same time

should be flexible enough to undertake any corrections when required, and do so without

adversely affecting operational efficiencies. The high level of integration found within the ERP

system should provide end-users with the highest level of visibility into materials transactions

within their schools, and assures the accuracy of the data relating to the inventory within the

warehouse (Sheila, 2010).

Bridge International Academies

Bridge International Academies is a chain of nursery and primary schools delivering high quality

education for just $5 a month (on average) in Kenya low income areas. Its mission is to provide

every child with the chance to have high quality primary education regardless of the family

income. Its headquarters is Located in Tulip House Mombasa road and has an employee capacity

of over 2000 workers. It is the largest chain of school academies in Kenya with over 400

academies and over 100,000 pupils.

Inventory Management has always been an important role for Bridge international academies,

the ERP system present at the school leverages research, technology, and data analysis in order

to standardize and scale the entire lifecycle of high-quality education delivery and to drive

continuous improvement across all aspects of operations including school inventory

management. This includes how academies are built and school monitoring its inventory.




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Statement of the Problem

Inventory management is regarded as vital to the successful functioning of any business firm as

it is the lifeblood and the heart of any organizations system however lack of inventory

management system in most private primary schools leads their decline in operations

performance (Ballou, 2005). Inventory often represents as much as 30% of the total capital

invested in organizations as well as in private primary teaching institutions (Dobler, 2006). This

was confirmed by Sawaya (2006) who suggest that inventory may represent 33% of the

organizations assets and as much as 90% of the working capital. Vohra (2008) asserts that there

is need therefore to analyze the costs of maintaining certain levels of inventory as there are costs

involved in holding too much stock and costs involved in holding too little inventory since

substantial share of funds is invested in them and therefore E.R.P. systems makes it easy to

maintain the inventory levels especially in private primary learning institutions.

Private Primary schools in Kenya face problems of poor inventory management and this has

greatly affected rendering learning process through poor inventory management of learning

materials(Jude 2013). With the use of inventory management systems like E.R.P., managementof

inventory becomes flawless (Sheila 2010). According to a recent survey, the average primary

school district loses more than $80,000 each year because of lost or damaged inventory(Jude

2013). Additionally, well over half of the districts in the survey 59% still use manual systems to

inventory(Vohra, 2008).In all private primary schools, computers have significant impact in their

works. People rely on computer for efficient and effective way to handle different loads and task




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most especially for business who are working with, inventorying as well as accounting (Sheila

2010).

Objectives of the Study

i. To establish the influence of Cost Management on inventory management in private

primary schools Kenya.

ii. To assess the influence of Corporate Supplier Relationship on inventory management

in private primary schools in Kenya.

iii. To analyze the influence of Customer Satisfaction on inventory management in

private primary schools in Kenya.

iv. To determine the influence of Employee Productivity on inventory management in

private primary schools in Kenya.

Theoretical Review of Literature

A theory is an abstract generalization that offers a systematic explanation about how

phenomena’s interrelate (Young, 2009). A formal theory is syntactic in nature and is only

meaningful when given a semantic component by applying it to some content (facts and

relationships of the actual world as it is unfolding (Zima 2007). This study employed theory of

constraints which justifies cost management as a constraints, Theory Z of relationship

management which shows the benefits due to relationship between suppliers and organizations,

Contrast theory which highlights customer satisfaction factors.




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Theory of Constraints

Eliyahu M. Goldratt (1984) developed the Theory of Constraints in part to address the cost-

accounting problems in what he calls the "cost world." He offers a substitute, called throughput

accounting, that uses throughput (money for goods sold to customers) in place of output (goods

produced that may sell or may boost inventory) and considers labor as a fixed rather than as a

variable cost. He defines inventory simply as everything the organization owns that it plans to

sell, including buildings, machinery, and many other things in addition to the categories listed

here (Dave 2002).

Throughput accounting recognizes only one class of variable costs: the truly variable costs, like

materials and components, which vary directly with the quantity produced (Goldratt 2004). The

theory is related to cost management in that it allows a company to use its constraints as leverage

by which it can improve its subject system. A constraint is anything that limits a company's

ability to achieve a higher level of performance; usually this translates ultimately into

impediments to profits (Doldratt, 2004)

The underlying premise of theory of constraints is that organizations can be measured and

controlled by variations on three measures: throughput, operational expense, and inventory.

Inventory is all the money that the system has invested in purchasing things which it intends to

sell. Operational expense is all the money the system spends in order to turn inventory into

throughput. Throughput is the rate at which the system generates money through sales (Goldratt,

2004).




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Finished goods inventories remain balance-sheet assets, but labor-efficiency ratios no longer

evaluate managers and workers. Instead of an incentive to reduce labor cost, throughput

accounting focuses attention on the relationships between throughput (revenue or income) on one

hand and controllable operating expenses and changes in inventory on the other. This theory

tackles cost management and its effect on inventory management (Goldratt, 2004)

Theory Z of Relationship Management

Professor Ouichi (1982) revolutionized organizational theory by proposing Theory Z, a theory

that workers were motivated by long-term employment, collective decision making, individual

responsibility, evaluation and promotion, and the feeling that the company had holistic concern

for them as an employee Fundamentally, buyers and sellers have entered into relationships with a

predetermined set of assumptions and these assumptions drive the wrong behavior on both sides.

When relationships begin and are managed in such an antagonistic manner, value is lost. We

believe that most sourcing/supply chain professional shave the wrong end point in mind and

therefore end up leaving a significant amount of unrealized value on the table. When the end

point is the best contract supported by well-defined Service Level Agreements (SLAs), the

behavior from both sides is defined and constrained by the contract (Dalip, 2007)

The contract should be nothing but a step along the way to establishing mutual value creating

relationships where both parties are focused on generating a significant amount of value for each

other. Some of the best value-creating activities for an organization are capable of being

accomplished after the contract is signed by starting with a focus on a “Mutuality of Interest.




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Both sides, the supplier and buyer organizations, need to be cognizant of this “Mutuality of

Interest” so that the benefits are realized from the beginning and throughout the relationship The

most mature organizations have seen the benefits of this approach to Strategic Sourcing. There is

a proactive push and fundamental change being made to foster development of the skills

necessary to manage the activities essential to capturing the promised “Mutual” benefits and to

identify additional “Mutual” benefits of a partnership between supplier and buyer organizations

(Dalip, 2007)

Contrast Theory

Contrast theory was first introduced by Hovland, Harvey & Sherif (1987). Dawes et al (1972)

define contrast theory as the tendency to magnify the discrepancy between one’s own attitudes

and the attitudes represented by opinion statements. Contrast theory presents an alternative view

of the customer post-usage evaluation process than was presented in assimilation theory in that

post-usage evaluations lead to results in opposite predictions for the effects of expectations on

satisfaction. While assimilation theory posits that customer will seek to minimize the

discrepancy between expectation and performance, contrast theory holds that a surprise effect

occurs leading to the discrepancy being magnified or exaggerated (Kamery 2003)




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Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework provides a clear concept of the areas in which meaningful

relationship are likely to exist (Cargan 2007). In the study, the conceptual framework will look at

the relationship between E.R.P system and inventory management in private primary schools in

Kenya.

Figure 1: Conceptual framework

Employee Productivity

One element of IT productivity

Is intensity of labor and quality effort

Efficiency gains on working

Inventory management in

Private Primary Schools in

Kenya

Track Inventory

Forecasting demand

Summarize inventory

records

Customer Satisfaction

Is key performance indicator

Indicate a company’s success

Used in monitoring a business

Cost Management

Manage payment

Capture and analyze inventory cost

Help business control budget

Corporate-supplier Relationship

Drive growth and profitability

Suppliers deliver excellent services

Form strong mutually beneficial relationships




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Research Gaps

Realizing the influence of E.R.P. system is a major challenge. Many organizations’ nationally

and internationally have found that implementing E.R.P. is more complex, expensive, and time-

consuming than originally expected. Problems encountered include supplier resistance, security

concerns, system integration costs, and the non-readiness of organizations’ (both buyers and

suppliers) to adopt the fundamental changes required. The aim of this study is to find out the

influence of E.R.P. system on inventory management in private primary schools a case study of

Bridge international academies.

The only study that has been done that is close to current study is Ravi (2013), on investigating

the influence of ERP systems environment on business process agility, the findings of the study

revealed that Enterprise resource planning systems have contributed to simplification,

standardization, integration, and automation of processes, but their influence on the firm's ability

to build agility is ambiguous. Integration of processes and information across functional

boundaries, according to the study, contributed to improvement in the speed of execution and

enhances the ability to re-configure process components. Integration across hierarchical levels in

the case organizations has resulted in improved visibility, centralization of control and improved

decision making, which indirectly contributed to process agility.

E.R.P systems play a great role in businesses in the world today. Businesses in the government

are not an exception. This study will investigate how much E.R.P. has been embraced in Bridge

international academies and what effect it has on inventory management function. In summary




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the major aim of this study was to bridge the gap between theory and practice. There is need to

understand why some things sound good on paper but difficult to implement in practice and this

study looked at Bridge international academies.




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METHODOLOGY

This study adopted a descriptive research design. According to Stephan (2001) descriptive

research entails the description of the characteristics that help describe, show, and summarize the

data in a meaningful way. A descriptive study was undertaken in order to ascertain and be able to

describe the characteristics of the variables of interest in a situation (Kothari, 2008). The goal

was to offer a profile of the phenomena of interest from specific perspective.

In this study the target population was 335 staffs who are directly and indirectly responsible for

inventory management and consisted of Accountants, Academy managers and Administration

staffs in Bridge International Academies.

The sample size for this study was drawn from all departments involved directly or indirectly in

inventory. According to Mugenda and Mugenda (2008) a sample size for a population of less

than 500 should be 30% of the total population. The sample size was calculated at 30% of the all

bridge international Head office staff which is 335 this giving a sample size of 100 respondents.

The main instrument of data collection was questionnaires. Questionnaire is a research tool that

has a predesigned list of questions used for communication with the respondents.

Data collected was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative data analysis approaches.

Data from closed and open-ended questions in the questionnaire was coded and entered into the

computer using statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20. The study used ANOVA

to test the level of significance of the variables on the dependent variable at 95% level of




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significance. The study also used correlation to establish the relationship between the variables.

Regression analysis is a quantitative research method used when the study involves modeling

and analyzing several variables, where the relationship includes a dependent variable and one or

more independent variables to provide meaningful and accurate conclusions of the phenomenon

under study (David, 2005). The researcher used regression analysis, as it was able to relate

dependent variable with multiple independent variables to bring out meaningful and reliable

conclusions as shown in the equation below.

(𝑦 = 𝛽o+𝛽1𝑋1 + 𝛽2𝑋2 + 𝛽3𝑋3 + 𝛽4𝑋4 + 𝜀)

Where:-

y= Dependent variable (Inventory Management in Private Primary Schools)

X1=Independent variable (Cost Management)

X2= Independent variable (Corporate Supplier Relationship)

X3= Independent variable (Customer Satisfaction)

X4= Independent variable (Employee Productivity)

𝛽1 − 𝛽4 = Regression coefficient for each independent variable

𝜀 −Random or stochastic term

Descriptive analysis such as frequencies and percentages were used to present qualitative data in

form of frequency distribution tables and graphs such as bar charts and pie charts on major

research questions to enable easier understanding and interpretation using inferential statistics

while open ended questions were analyzed qualitatively, arranged thematically and presented on

narrative form to draw conclusions and recommendations.




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Findings

Analysis of Variance

From the ANOVA statistics, the processed data which is the population parameters, had a

significance level of 0% which shows that the data is ideal for making a conclusion on the

population parameters as the value of significance (p-value ) is less than 5%. The calculated

value was greater than the critical value (3.164>1.987) an indication that there were significant

difference between inventory management in private primary schools in Kenya and cost

management, corporate supplier relationship, customer satisfaction and employee productivity

respectively. The significance value was less than 0.05 indicating that the model was significant.

This is shown in table 1.

Table 1: Analysis of Variance

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Signific

ance

1 Regression 1.477 4 0.376 3.164 .029b

Residual 33.4 44 0.339

Total 34.877 48

Regression analysis

Adjusted R squared is coefficient of determination which tells us the variation in the dependent

variable due to changes in the independent variable. From the findings in the table below the




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value of adjusted R squared was 0.766 an indication that there was variation of 76.6% on the

inventory management in private primary schools in Kenya due to changes in cost management,

corporate supplier relationship, customer satisfaction and employee productivity at 95% level of

confidence . This shows that 76.6% changes in inventory management of private primary schools

in Kenyacould be accounted to changes in cost management, corporate supplier relationship,

customer satisfaction and employee productivity. R is the correlation coefficient which shows

the relationship between the study variables. This is shown in table 2.

Table 2: Model Summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Standard Error of the

Estimate

1 .881a .784 .766 .12214

Regression coefficients

The findings revealed that holding cost management, corporate supplier relationship, customer

satisfaction and employee productivity to a constant zero, inventory management in private

primary schools in Kenya would stand at 0.864; a unit increase in cost management would lead

to an increase in inventory management in private primary schools by a factor of 0.375. A unit

increase in corporate supplier relationship would lead to an increase in inventory management in

private primary schools by a factor of 0.396. A unit increase in customer satisfaction would lead




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to an increase in inventory management in private primary schools by a factor of 0.431 and unit

increase in employee productivity would lead to an increase in inventory management in private

primary schools by a factor of 0.455. The study further revealed that cost management, corporate

supplier relationship, customer satisfaction and employee productivity were statistically

significant to affect inventory management in private primary schools, as all the p value

(significance) were less than 0.05%. The study also found that there was a positive relationship

between inventory management in private primary schoolsand cost management, corporate

supplier relationship, customer satisfaction and employee productivity. The above findings are in

line with David (2005) assertion that regression analysis is able to relate dependent variable with

multiple independent variables and provide meaningful and accurate conclusions of the

phenomenon under study. This is shown in table 3.

Table 3: Regression coefficients

Model Unstandardized

Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Signifi

cance

B Standard

Error

Beta

1 (Constant) .864 .369 2.529 .017

Cost Management .375 .099 .201 3.361 .011

Corporate Supplier

Relationship

.396 .142 .216 2.347 .004

Customer Satisfaction .431 .136 .342 3.614 .016

Employee Productivity .455 .097 .375 5.241 .033




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The established regression equation was

Y = 0.864 + 0.375 X1 + 0.396 X2 + 0.431 X3 + 0.455 X4

Summary of Findings

On cost management, the study revealed that a unit increase in cost management would lead to

an increase in inventory management in private primary schools by a factor of 0.375 at a

significance level of 0.011.The study also established that, the organization managed payments

for received items as shown by a mean of 4.76 and a standard deviation of 0.54, the organization

captured and analyzed inventory costs as shown by a mean of 4.58 and a standard deviation of

0.61, and the organization controlled its budget effectively as a result of embracing enterprise

resource planning system in its operations as shown by a mean of 4.39 and a standard deviation

of 0.46. The above findings are in line with the findings by Madeurne (2015) who posited that

enterprise resource software auto signs all required accounting information including cost of

goods, inventory assets and sales income, even down to what tax codes are needed to be

associated with the product, thus management of inventory is critical to controlling costs and

ensuring smooth operations of business.

On corporate supplier relationship, the study revealed that a unit increase in corporate supplier

relationship would lead to an increase in inventory management in private primary schools by a

factor of 0.396 at a significance level of 0.004.The study also established that, the organization

formed strong mutual beneficial relationships with suppliers as shown by a mean of 4.52 and a

standard deviation of 0.43, the adoption of enterprise resource planning system in the

organization facilitated growth and profitability as shown by a mean of 4.38 and a standard




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deviation of 0.40, and adoption of enterprise resource planning system enabled excellent services

to be delivered to the organization by suppliers as shown by a mean of 4.26 and a standard

deviation of 0.29. The above findings are in line with the findings by Wikipedia (2010) that

supplier relationship is about developing two- way, mutually beneficial relationship with your

most strategic supply partners that deliver greater levels of innovation and competitive advantage

than could be achieved by operating independently.

On customer satisfaction, the study revealed that a unit increase in customer satisfaction would

lead to an increase in inventory management in private primary schools by a factor of 0.431 at a

significance level of 0.016.The study also established that, the organization embraced enterprise

resource planning system to continuously monitor the business success through a scorecard as

shown by a mean of 4.63 and a standard deviation of 0.33, the adoption of enterprise resource

planning system determined the organization’s dominance in the market as shown by a mean of

4.50 and a standard deviation of 0.24, and adoption of enterprise resource planning system in the

organization formed the basis of key performance indicator in regards to inventory usage and

cost performance as shown by a mean of 4.27 and a standard deviation of 0.28. The above

findings are in line with the findings by McDaniel (2005) who opined that customer satisfaction

is seen as a key performance indicator within businesses and is often part of a balanced

scorecard. In a competitive market place where businesses compete for customers, customer

satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business

strategy.




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On employee productivity, the study revealed that a unit increase in employee productivity

would lead to an increase in inventory management in private primary schools by a factor of

0.455 at a significance level of 0.033.The study also established that, the organization gained

efficiency through reduction of waste and costs such as labor costs in inventory operations as

shown by a mean of 4.85 and a standard deviation of 0.41, the organization successfully reduced

labor effort and increased quality performance as shown by a mean of 4.53 and a standard

deviation of 0.50, and adoption of enterprise resource planning system formed the basis for

information technology productivity as shown by a mean of 4.44 and a standard deviation of

0.23. The above findings are in line with the findings by Kraiser & Young (2009) who suggested

that sub-optimization often occurs because of lack of proper rewarding system, for example,

managers may be rewarded for the reported profits but not for healthy inventory. As a result

sales companies tend to increase inventory level in order to increase customer service and avoid

stock outs. High receivables and high inventories lock up cash in working capital. However, this

issue can be resolved by providing proper incentives and making “people aware that there is

more to sales than booking the deal’’

The findings revealed that holding cost management, corporate supplier relationship, customer

satisfaction and employee productivity to a constant zero, inventory management in private

primary schools would stand at 0.864.The study also established that, the organization tracked

inventories in real time using bar coded labels as shown by a mean of 4.52 and a standard

deviation of 0.46, the organization forecasted demand as shown by a mean of 4.48 and a standard

deviation of 0.54, and also the organization searched for inventory records and summarized them




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to whatever level of details required as shown by a mean of 4.41 and a standard deviation of

0.49. The above findings are in line with the findings by Mpwanya (2005) who posited that the

main aim of inventory management is to ensure that organizations hold inventories at the lowest

cost possible while at the same time achieving the objective of ensuring that the company has

adequate and uninterrupted supplies to enhance continuity of operations through proper

forecasting of demand. Similarly, a study by Lee & Centinkaya (2005) indicated that

organizations increasingly employ systems such as enterprise resource planning in an effort to

control inventory levels in their operations.

Recommendations

Based on the findings, the study recommends that the management of private primary schools

should appropriately manage payments for received items, capture and analyze inventory costs

and control their budgets effectively through embracing enterprise resource planning system in

their operations. There is need for management to form strong mutual beneficial relationships

with suppliers, facilitate growth and profitability and ensure excellent services are delivered by

suppliers through incorporating enterprise resource planning in their day-to-day operations. To

ensure customer satisfaction is guaranteed, the management has to continuously monitor the

business success through a balanced scorecard, expand the company’s dominance in the market

and come up with key performance indicators to measure inventory usage and cost performance

through adoption of enterprise resource planning system. The study also recommends that the

management reduces waste and cut costs such as labor costs, increase quality performance




22

through recruitment of competent staff and ensure Information Technology productivity through

adoption of enterprise resource planning system in their operations.

Further areas of research

This study sought to find out the influence of enterprise resource planning system on inventory

management in private primary schools in Kenya. The study found out that corporate supplier

relationship had the highest significance on inventory management in private primary schools in

Kenya while employee productivity had the lowest significance on inventory management in

private primary schools in Kenya. The study thus recommends further research on factors

influencing employee productivity on inventory management in private primary schools in

Kenya and influence of customer satisfaction on inventory management in private primary

schools in Kenya.




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