Demanding Times: Next Generation Demand Management

Author: Bill McBeath

Published on: February 01, 2004

Abstract

Achieving excellence in demand management-discovering, creating, growing, and fulfilling demand-is the core of market leadership. In the 90’s, many saw APS systems and later CPFR as the ‘holy grail’ to solve forecasting and demand management problems. While these did result in some improvements, here we are a decade later, and many companies have thrown up their hands, accepting poor forecast accuracies, to focus almost exclusively on execution improvements and lead-time reductionas the only way to improve demand management.

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However, a few forward-thinking companies have been able to rise above the crowd, not just in better forecasting, but across the whole process of generating, understanding, and fulfilling demand. Many of these next-generation demand management practices have not received widespread attention to date. We set out to explore those demand management practices that are already providing a competitive edge to select, leading companies and use that knowledge to provide specific recommendations for companies seeking to improve their performance. Through our research, ChainLink has developed a framework to help practitioners understand and implement the elements of successful demand management.

Discover Markets

Demand Management excellence starts with discovering and growing markets. Market leaders excel at spotting opportunities. They are obsessive about understanding their customers, markets, and all of the forces at work. They pour over demographics and economic data, absorb the views of the pundits and experts, have healthy internal discussions, and then formulate their own unique and bold view of where the markets are heading, with a vision for their own market strategy and product strategies to drive growth.

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