The Influence of Lead Time Variance, Quotation process and Local purchasing order generationon Inventory Management Performance in Humanitarian Organizations; A Case Study Of Afghan Red Crescent Society Medical Supply Chain

Purpose:The main purpose of this study was to establish the influence of lead time variance, quotation process and local purchasing order generation optimization on inventory management performance in Afghan Red Crescent Society Medical Supply Chain.Methodology:This study adopted descriptive survey design. The target population of the study was 45 end user clinics and 916 experts and procurement professionals existing in the email database of the researcher at the time of study. The sample size of the study was 96 respondents who were divided into strata's of 41 end user clinics and 55 procurement experts. This study used both primary and secondary data collected using questionnaires and secondary data collection guide. Secondary data wascollected for all variables from 10 end user clinics. Data analysis was done using SPSS generating both descriptive and inferential statistics like Pearson's bivariate correlation and regression analysis. Descriptive statistics included; frequencies, mean and standard deviation. Data analysis output was presented using tables and cartographies like pie charts and line graphs.Results:Result findings indicated that over 80% of the leadtime for end user clinics was contributed by ACRCS process and this was supported by both the customer satisfaction survey as well the reported R squared in regression analysis.Quotation lead time was found to be statistically significant in explaining overall lead time in Afghan Red Crescent Society Medical Supply Chain. Further, Results revealed that it took a maximum of 20 days and a minimum of 11 days for the entire local purchase order process. The average mean was 14.55 days to prepare and deliver to supplier the confirmed request documents for the supply of goods. The skewness statistics was 0.983 which indicates that thevariable was skewed slightly to the right which implies that the local purchase order lead time had minimal outliers. Regression results indicate that LPO lead time was not statistically significant in explaining overall lead timeUnique contribution to theory, practice and policy: It is recommended to the management of ARCS to embrace strategies that can lead to reduction of lead time such as vendor managed inventory which enables the customer's partnership channel to be more efficient due to better planning coordination, reduced needs for inventories with increased sales by focusing on selling what end-customer wants.