Assignment Sample on MARK 1190 Foundation of Scholarship and Research Methods

1. Introduction  

1.1 Background  

Retail system in the retail industry by the inventory management deals with the process that indicates the stock that relates with the restaurant. The items that leave the restaurant must be indicated by the inventory management of the food retail. The study describes the research methods along with the research design. The research philosophy and approach are enlightened in the study that may help the researcher in conducting to receive the outcome of the objective. The research may include the aspects that help to identify the research designs that include the data collection and data analysis method.

The review in the literature in accordance with the research topic contradicts the resemblance of the food retail industries in the market. The inventory management of the food industry and its supply chain that indicates the restaurant is enumerated in the research study. The justification is also provided in the research methodology that focuses on the research method and the reason for choosing the particular research method for the study. The research thus enumerates the perspective that allows the learner in evaluating the research in a manner to maintain the equilibrium of the food industry. Therefore, it is to state that the research enlightens the food retail industry in a manner to maintain sustainability in the market by inventory management.

1.2 Research objectives and aims  

Aims

Storage cost, carrying cost, and purchasing cost are the variables that need to be indulged in the food industry and the main aim of this research will be to manage these elements with inventory management.

Objectives

• To maintain the storage cost, carrying cost, and purchasing cost by the usage of inventory management in the food industry
• The restaurant’s main objective is to maintain the storage of foods that can satisfy the customers
• To maintain the required inventory that helps the restaurants to run the production
• To regulate the supply chain in an active place of the food industry by the inventory management

2. Literature Review

2.1 Review methodology

A literature review is the summary of previous research data and information that help the researcher in defining the current research topic. This research topic includes the inventory management of the food industries that specifically focuses on the restaurant business. The retailers of the restaurant business are strongly based on the supply chain system of the food industries and the research enhanced the same aspects of supply chain systems in inventory management. The researcher focused on certain keywords that enhanced the research to be more specific.

The keywords are “supply chain system in inventory management”, “food inventory management”, “retail inventory management” and “the importance of inventory management”. However, the researcher finds the keywords in the specific websites that help the research to be more enhanced. The websites that the researcher follows in gathering information on the topic are Google Scholar, ProQuest, and EbscoHost. These websites help the researcher in collecting journals or articles that assist the research paper to be more enlightened in accordance with the topic. The researcher enlightened the research with more than 30 journals in the research paper that aids the researcher in enhancing the research study. Therefore, it is to state that the research consists of knowledgeable aspects of the topic and it is necessary to enhance the research study with as much information as it is applicable in the topic.

2.2 Review  

2.2.1 Importance of management of inventory in the food industry 

Inventory management plays a vital role in the retail industry as it helps the industry to increase profits. As per the view of Weber et al. (2018), retailers intend to adopt as much inventory in their sales so that the organisation does not face any overstock issues and can the management minimise the expenses of the products. It is to note that the food industry depends on inventory management to increase its efficiency. The supply chain of the industry also gets impacted by following the inventory management in the organisation (Attia and Salama, 2018). The practices that make inventory management play a significant role in the industry may be enumerated as follows:

Inventory cost of the industry get reduced

Inventory management helps the food industry to evaluate the strategy by incorporating the management of the supply chain. As opined by He et al. (2020), the industry may track the storage and the limitation of stock on its own which helps the industry to maintain sustainability in the market. It reduces the storage and carrying cost to a large extent (Yang et al. 2019). On the other hand, inventory management helps the industry to save the opportunity cost, depreciation, logistics, and shipping cost that help the industry to make more profits.

Inventory reduces out-of-stock

Inventory management helps the industry to maintain the supply chain in an active position by maintaining the record of its storage. According to Mukhtar et al. (2021), the food industry entirely depends on customers and the restaurants would not prefer to disappoint their customers for the lack of food in the restaurant. It depends on the restaurant’s capacity as well as the brand name. The more the name, the more the customers will arrive (Zhang et al. 2020). The supply chain is maintained by introducing inventory management in the restaurant.

Prevents obsolescence and spoilage

Inventory management helps the industry in the obsolete and expiring method of foods in the industry. As per the view of Bajegani and Gholamian (2020), the management of the restaurant can track the importance of the food and prevent the spoilage of the items in an organised way. The importance of this phenomenon derives from the perishable items of the restaurants (Kohli, 2020). The restaurant can track the items that are going to expire or the spoilage of perishable items with the help of inventory management and thus the supply chain of the industry is informed at the particular time.

Improvement of omnichannel and multi-channel performance along with the order fulfillment

The food items of the restaurant may be sold through a third party, websites or in physical stores. According to Prabhuram et al. (2020), the inventory costs of the items in any type of selling method are very difficult to calculate on a daily basis. The restaurant can keep track of these costs in a particular manner with the help of inventory management which helps the supply chain to be more effective (Barbosa and Casais, 2022). The record of selling channels helps the retailers to deal with more efficiency and ultimately the items are distributed to the consumers in a speedy way.

2.2.2 Effective restaurant in the food industry by inventory management 

Inventory management helps the food industry to maintain a track record of the stocks in the restaurant. As per the view of Gładysz et al. (2020), the items that are coming in the stock, how many items are leaving from the stock, and the leftover items are being tracked by the inventory management. However, this helps the industry or the restaurant to maintain the supply chain of the items and are able to inform the stakeholders at the perfect time when the restaurant needs to fill its stock again. The restaurants get effective by using inventory management in their operation to maintain industrial growth (Tavill, 2020). The tips that the inventory management can provide for the restaurants may be enumerated as below:

Selling the items with the help of inventory management of the restaurant

The restaurant may be assisted by inventory management that helps them to make more money and more customers. As per the view of Talebian et al. (2020), inventory management in a restaurant also helps them in maintaining the cost of carrying, making, and distributing. It is to note that the inventory management van makes the restaurant a smart one and it may be the spine of the restaurant in terms of the operational functions of the restaurant (Tan and Netessine, 2020). The supply chain will also be on track for the restaurant and it may help to margin the profits of the restaurant.

Training of the team in the restaurant

In order to make the inventory management effective, the restaurant must take steps to create a team in accordance with the training purpose. The persons who will be liable for using the inventory management must be well acquainted with the operations of the inventory management (Ratasuk and Charoensukmongkol, 2019). Proper training to the team is the only requirement that needs to be conducted by the management of the restaurant so that the organisation must maintain the right track and the supply chain is controlled. The team must contain staff who are hardworking and trustworthy and they must not afraid of little number-crunching.

Clean and organised restaurant set-up

The restaurant must be clean in order to maintain the inventory management to become effective. The number of employees in the restaurant must be well disciplined and it must maintain the staff according to the inventory management. The stocks need to be checked on a daily basis and this must be continued by the employees without any fail (Young and Thaivalappil, 2018). The kitchen must be cleaned every day and the pots, pans and other utensils to be cleaned every night. The management of the restaurant must take care of all these factors in order o make the inventory management effective for the restaurant and its growth.

Regular stocktakes

The restaurant must keep a record of the stocktaking process in the operation that may help the restaurant in maintaining growth. The difference between periodic and perpetual inventory is thus needed to be trained to the employees who are actively participating in the inventory management. As per the view of Elshaer (2020), the process of stock-taking may be either daily, monthly, yearly, or weekly based but it is the most important aspect of making inventory management effective for the restaurant.

2.2.3 Supply chain in the food industry improves by inventory management 

The core component that helps in the improvement of the supply chain entirely depends on the inventory. The inventory management gets effective in case of the supply chain is the place where the entire supply chain process comes together in tandem. Inventory management of the supply chain helps them to accurate effectiveness and in the case of the same; the digital management of inventory is applicable to a large extent. According to Kalinov et al. (2021), in the part of the supply chain management, the inventory focuses on different aspects of the industry. The food industry in a way to manage the supply chain thus depends on inventory management.

Order fulfilment, product amounting control, stock storage maintenance, overseeing purchases from customers and suppliers, and controlling the entire aspects are the core components that inventory management takes care of the management in the supply chain. As per the view of Gardas et al. (2019), inventory management thus is the caretaker of all aspects of the su[ply chain and the food industry is dependent on inventory management in the case of the supply chain to a large extent. However, the food industry mainly the retailers of the restaurants covers the aspects of the supply chain in order to fulfil their requirements, and inventory management assists the same.

Theories such as Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) theory and Strategic Choice Theory are most commonly used to analyse the impact of supply chain. The basic concepts of such theories are that supply of products is dependent upon the available stock and the demand of that product in the market. Thus, strategies must be created to make sure that supply and demand are coherent. Inventory management assists the supply chain of the food industry in three core aspects that may help the industry to increase its growth in a significant perspective. They are enumerated as follows:

Purchasing inventory

Inventory management helps the industry in respect of supply chain management as inventory management helps the restaurant to purchase the components and raw materials that are bought to the restaurant (Krishnan et al. 2020). The inventory management also helps to deliver the same in the restaurant and thus the supply chain is assisted by the inventory management to a large extent.

Storing inventory

Inventory management is stored in the part of the supply chain until it is needed for performance. However, inventory management is such an operation that needs to maintain the supply chain system in a manner to control the aspects of the food industries. As per the view of Jonkman et al. (2019), the raw materials are brought to the production centre by the inventory management and the supply chain gets benefits from this process. Next, the finished goods are brought by the inventory management to the restaurant, and thus the supply chain system entirely depends on inventory management.

Profiting inventory

The inventory management in the process of supply chain makes profits of the industries and thus the inventory management is the progressing management for the industries. Inventory management controls the product amount that needs to the sale for a specific period of time and thus it is controlled at the level of risk management. According to Casino et al. (2021), the risk of selling a product is controlled by inventory management. Inventory management helps the supply chain system to fulfill the orders of the finished items and the products are also shipped to the restaurant in the prescribed time.

2.3 Research Gaps 

The researcher provides the information of the research topic in a quantitative and qualitative manner of the secondary data collection method. The research may be more enhanced if the primary data collection method would have been used in the research. However, the researcher finds it difficult to make a survey or prepare a questionnaire in accordance with the same perspective. In order to make the research more enhancing, the researcher may have included the survey in the research study.

3. Research design

3.1 Research method

In order to represent this study in an effective manner, the researcher would follow every aspect of the research method. The researcher would follow an effective research philosophy,  the belief that will enable the researcher to choose an efficient way of data collection, analysis and representation (Zangirolami-Raimundo et al. 2018). In this research, the researcher will adopt positivism research philosophy as this particular research philosophy helps the researcher to develop the hypothesis out of the analysis of the gathered information. In usual terms, positivism research philosophy refers to the scientific study of the social world.

In a nutshell, it can be stated that this particular research philosophy helps the researcher to gain factual knowledge regarding the research topic of this study; therefore, this specific research philosophy would be chosen by the researcher. Positivism research philosophy would summarize various main concepts of effective research such as research should be conducted with the intention of explanation and prediction. Additionally, as per the view of Alharahsheh and Pius (2020), this positivism philosophy will enable the researcher to conduct empirical research based on the human senses. This particular feature can help the researcher to have inductive reasoning which is important to build and examine the hypothesis in a research job. Apart from this, a fair understanding of the concepts of the research would help the researcher to represent the concept in a reflective manner.

In addition to selecting the above-mentioned research philosophy, in this research, a proper research approach will be selected as well. The research approach can be demonstrated as the procedures and plans for research that gives a close insight into the detailed assumptions of collecting, analysing and presenting collected data in the study. In accordance with the research topic, the researcher will choose the deductive research approach. The deductive approach offers an opportunity for the researcher to develop the most relatable hypothesis based on the existing theories that would contribute to designing an effective research strategy for testing the developed hypothesis (Pearse, 2019). This selected approach will help the researcher to understand the relation between the concepts and variables that contributes to saving the time of the researcher. On the other hand, as this research approach would provide the advantages of understanding the variables and the relations these variables possess, the researcher will be able to select the required data in no time.

The present study would contain an effective research design, which can be referred to the specific strategy that would be chosen by the researcher in order to integrate different components of the research topic. Based on this fact, in this present research, the researcher will follow the descriptive research design (Sahin and Mete, 2021).  The descriptive research design can be demonstrated by “a type of research design that aims to obtain information to systematically describe a phenomenon, situation, or population”. This particular research design will help the researcher to make important decisions regarding the selection of effective information to represent the reflective discussion of this research.

3.2 Data Collection

The present research will be conducted on the basis of the secondary data collected through various online platforms. The term, “data collection“, has been referred to as the process that denotes the collection and measurement of the required information in a systematic manner (Ngozwana, 2018). The researcher needs to follow a particular data in order to conduct effective research work for the research topic. Among the available data types for the research, the researcher will choose the secondary data in order to conduct this research.

In usual terms, secondary data has been referred to the information that already exists and it has been collected previously by another institution, person or organization. This type of data has been considered as one of the useful ones for research work as this information can be collected easily by having access to different online platforms that offer journals and articles (Ruggiano, N. and Perry, 2019). The researcher will use this particular type because, besides offering essay availability, these data types are easy to analyse. As the researcher will face less difficulty in collecting data and analysing them for representation in a reflective manner, the researcher will follow and use the secondary data for this particular research work.

3.3 Data analysis

In order to analyse the collected secondary data, the researcher will use the mixed method as the researcher has the requirement of using both the qualitative and quantitative data.  In this mixed method of research, the researcher needs to integrate both the types of data such as quantitative and qualitative (Lowe et al. 2018). Therefore, based on this fact, it can be stated that,  in order to analyse the collected information, the researcher will go through the journals and articles which are available on online platforms like Proquest, Google Scholar and many more. Apart from that, to evaluate and understand the relevant information based on the research topic, the researcher will go through various news articles as well. This will help the researcher to understand the relativity that has been shared among the research variables. This particular research has been based on the “inventory management in food retail” which possessed the necessity of collecting information from news articles along with journals to prove and examine the developed hypothesis for this research (Kim and Han, 2020). Based on these requirements, in order to fulfil those and increase the authenticity of the presented analysed information, the researcher needs to follow the mixed method by analysing both the qualitative and quantitative data.

3.4 Justification of research method

Focussing on conducting effective research work, the researcher will use the mixed method as the research method. This particular research method will be an aid to the researcher to align the concept and the variables of the research topic. On the other hand, the chosen research philosophy and the research approach will help the researcher to present the researched information in an unbiased way by linking it with the research objectives (Kim and Han, 2020). Besides that, in this current post-pandemic situation, as the primary research will be difficult for the researcher, the researcher will use the secondary data to complete the research work for this particular study.

4. Conclusion

It may be concluded by stating that inventory management enhances the supply chain system as well as the food industry in a manner to maintain the equilibrium of the market. The researcher makes it evident that inventory management plays a vital role in all aspects of the improvement in the supply chain system. The importance of the supply chain is the variables that need to be enhanced in the specific dimensions of the research topic. However, the researcher has also enhanced that inventory management helps the food industry to a large extent that simplifies the core aspects of restaurants. The management of the food industry is responsible for conducting the same attributes that the supply chain system in the industry opts for. The restaurant on the other hand deals with certain aspects of the supply chain management system in the industry.

The research also enhanced the importance of inventory management in restaurants and the food industry allowing the research to be more specific. The role of inventory management in the food industry is thus enumerated in a broader aspect of the food industry and specified to maintain an equilibrium of the industry. The researcher proves the fact that the food industry depends on the supply chain and the system of the supply chain is dependent on inventory management. Therefore, it may be concluded to maintaining the equilibrium of the food industry in regard to inventory management in accordance with the supply chain system of the food industry.

References

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