MARGINAL ANALYSIS OF THE DEMAND OF SEASONAL/ PERISHABLE GOODS

A SINGLE-PERIOD INVENTORY MODEL APPROACH

Abstract

Inventory problem, a sub-specialty within operations research is concerned with the design of production of inventory systems to minimize costs. Managers of firms face different problems like quantity of goods to order, marketing strategies, preservative facilities, atmospheric conditions, cost minimization. This study assessed the marginal analysis of the demand of seasonal and perishable goods  n Akwanga using a single period inventory model. The research reveals that wholesalers of tomatoes ordered quantities were less than
the means of the distribution in both the harvest and scarce periods. Marketers of onions and pepper revealed that their ordered quantities were less than the means of the distribution for both harvest and scarce periods
However, one marketer of onions and pepper had ordered quantity equal to the mean of the distribution at
harvest period. A MATLAB written script solved the critical ratios and ordered quantity faster with less time
spent compared to the manual computation.