INVENTORY CONTROL STRATEGIES AND SUPPLY CHAIN VIABILITY OF DOWNSTREAM PETROLEUM INDUSTRY IN RIVERS STATE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the link existing between inventory control strategies and supply chain viabilityusing downstream petroleum firms in Rivers State,Nigeria. This study adopted cross-sectional survey design. Questionnaires was the key instrument for data generation. The respondents were 134downstream petroleum staff in Rivers State. The study adoptedcensus since the population was not large, thus there was no need of sampling. Cronbach’s alpha test was adoptedto test the reliabilityof the instrument. The Pearson Moment Product Correlation Coefficient was used to test postulated hypotheses. The studyfinds out that,inventory control strategies significantly improve supply chain resilience and sustainable supply chain of downstream petroleum firms. Thus,by implementing inventory control strategies, thesefirms will improve their supply chain resilience and sustainable supply chain, and in turnthe attainable of their goal(s). It was recommended that, downstream petroleum firms should implement full inventory control strategies for effective and strong supply chain resilience and sustainable supply chain. Downstream petroleum firms should conduct regular assessment of their inventory control strategies in order to be updated with current realities for better supply chain resilience and sustainable supply chain.