Integrating Demand and Supply Chain Management

Some companies concentrate on upgrading their supply chain operations. Others focus more on the demand side, seeking to improve the customer relationship processes. Yet the real key to market success is to effectively integrate the two initiatives. By doing so, you can offer customers a greatly enhanced value proposition. And this, in turn, leads to new T raditionally, supply chain management has focused on back-end operational functions, while marketing has addressed front-end, or customer-facing , functions. Indeed, companies typically have practiced these two functions separately. But in doing so, they have foreclosed on some important opportunities. By integrating the supply and demand chain activities, they can create competitive advantage while positioning themselves to take full advantage of the Internet's potential. Before they can successfully integrate the demand and supply functions, however, companies need to better understand the relationship between marketing and supply chain management. This understanding will allow them to begin to plan and implement an integrated demand and supply chain management system—and begin to realize the competitive advantages.