Abstract: | Research by questionnaire was carried out on all seven poultry feed marketing firms in Ile Ife in 1979 in order to determine the firms' operational efficiency, to identify the determinants of efficiency in the industry, and from there suggest ways by which further improvement in efficiency could be achieved. The poultry feed marketing industry in Ile Ife was found to be characterized by inventory carrying costs ranging from 18.09 to 22.96 percent of the average inventory value, and from 0.44 to 2.29 percent of the total costs of feed marketed. Marketing costs ranged from 3.53 to 7.59 percent of the total cost of feed marketed. The cost components that contribute to the two costs are cost of capital, storage space, handling and distribution, transportation, damage, and investment in inventory and marketing assets. Firms with low inventory carrying costs had high relative efficiency and the best profit performance. Bibliogr. |