CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW $($Approximately $4-5$ pages$)$

$2\mathrm{.}1$ Introduction

This part of the study examines the literature on supply chain operations and discusses the potential effects of inventory and information inconsistencies on supply chains as a whole. Finally, it will discuss the strategies that should improve order fulfilment consistency. The main goal of this research is to find out how supply chain discrepancies influence an organization's overall performance.

$2\mathrm{.}2$ Definitions of key concepts

$2\mathrm{.}2\mathrm{.}1$ Supply Chain

$$Individuals$,$ organizations, resources, and activities in the creation and sale of a product$$ are all part of a supply chain, according to Bauerochse $(2020$:$54).$ It includes all aspects of the process, from the supplier delivering raw materials to the producer to the final delivery of the product to the customer.

$2\mathrm{.}2\mathrm{.}2$ Supply Chain Strategies

According to Mark $(2019$:$322)$ supply chain strategies can be defined as the $$plan that an organization uses to govern the flow of goods and services from sourcing raw material to delivering products to customers and end users$.$ It summarizes the $$key processes that the organization will use to improve the efficiency of its supply chain $($Mark$,2019$:$322).$

$2\mathrm{.}2\mathrm{.}3$ Organizational performance

"How well an organization is undertaking and how much of its daily tasks and set objectives it productively completes" is what Nadioo $(2022$:$107)$ defines as organizational performance. Comparing an organization's actual outputs or results with its intended ones is a necessary step in measuring its performance $($Naidoo$,2022$:$107).$ This comparison makes it easier for businesses to assess whether they are really accomplishing their goals

$2\mathrm{.}2\mathrm{.}4$ Operational Discrepancy

According to $($Lodi et al$.,2019)$ Differences between physical stocks and stocks of record in a supply operation are known as operational discrepancies. In addition to negatively affecting the supply function, discrepancies may also seriously impair the benefits that should be realized from the application of theoretically ideal techniques for procurement, production scheduling, and inventory control.

Penalties are incurred when order fulfilment and demand satisfaction are hampered by the mismatch of information between the vendor and the buyer. The numerical data shows that the buyer and seller can have "a substantial amount of the percentage cost reductions if the information discrepancy can be reduced, and the possible savings are substantial, mainly when the errors have greater inconsistency," according to Chopra's $(2019$:$206)$ findings on the literature review. Furthermore, it is observed that the purchasing organization is frequently more vulnerable to information inconsistencies than the vendor. Furthermore, the buyer is frequently more negatively impacted by an underestimate of the actual inventory level than by an overestimation of it$.$ Consequently, even The buyer and the seller could nevertheless gain equally by considering the likelihood of errors in the organizational decision$-$making process even if it is not possible to eliminate or remove all faults.

Tracking inventory throughout the supply chain is not as clear cut as it may appear this is because inventory is $$continuously moving through the supply chain, it is frequent for inventory to get misplaced, delayed or stolen$($Watson$,2019$:$117).$ This indicates the need to have the correct tracking system to improve the tracking inventory efficiently. Therefore, literature indicates that by keeping $$precise inventory records by determining a strong inventory reconciliation process and order fulfillment strategy is also key$($Watson$,2019$:$117).$

The inventory order fulfilment approach has many drawbacks. For instance, a supply chain suffers greatly when there is a breakdown in communication between the customer and vendor. There are two primary sources of disparities in information. The initial source is the information system's display of the buyers' and sellers' inventory records. Orders are placed using the supplier's system inventory information, and the buyer transmits the accepted order to the drop$-$shipper. The inventory level recorded in the buyer's information system and the supplier's information system, however, will not be synced if the supplier does not "update the system on the inventory level on a regular basis" $($Premnath$,2021$:$552).$

A disparity "between the buyer's physical stock obtainable, and the related inventory recorded in its information system" is another additional source of information $($Boucher$,2019$:$79).$ This can be the result of lost or expired items, or mistakes made when entering data for stock flows. Due to the customer's lack of complete knowledge on the organization's actual inventory, these inaccuracies could have a significant negative effect on the business's overall performance. It may take orders from clients only to discover afterwards that the company is unable to complete the orders. This is undoubtedl