Question

Summarize the ways through which sales and operations planning can be integrated. Then, extend your findings to additional supply chain management processes that you feel could be better integrated. 

Which two (or more) processes did you integrate? Why and how? 

Answer 1

answer:

the ways through which sales and operations planning can be integrated. Then, extend your findings to additional supply chain management processes that you feel could be better integrated.

Both the sales and operational planning can be combined with each other in such a way that it can facilitate the capabilities of the supply chain to be matched with the financial targets, tactical and various strategic decisions which are established in any organization. Sales force and the operational enterprise can be combined in some of the sales and operational plans and thus it can be quite useful in gaining the financial goals of the firm. The integration can be started when the different departments of the organization, for example, sales, supply chain, marketing, production and so on target to accomplish the various goals determined by the firm. These kinds of plan facilitate the adoption and tradeoff between the supply and demand side of the markets.

Customer Lead Times and Productivity

Productivity and customer lead times are the two main sales and operations plans which can be combined in any organization. In order to reduce the lead time, the manpower can be educated and provided the various types of training which will ensure the availability of enough information to the manpower with reference to the employee’s performance over time. This will also help in implementing a culture in which the demand of the customers is respected and it would lead to the increased performance of the sales department. This is targeted to improve the sales achievement from various employees and change the culture which will help in their performance improvement.

The efficiency of the sales and marketing team can be improved with the help of a culture change. The performance of any department can be improved significantly if there is an active involvement from the top management. The performance of the organization can be significantly being improved if the firm has the top-down approach. The leadership has an influence on the performance of the employees. Thus in order to improve the performance and efficiency of the organization, it is important to have an open and free communication from the organization’s leadership. The bottom up culture can be initiated by the most committed leaders by educating and training the manpower.

References

Palmatier, G. E., Crum, C., (2003). Enterprise sales and operations planning: Synchronizing demand, supply and resources for peak performance. Boca Raton, Fla: J. Ross Publishers.

Whitaker, S. C. (2012). Mergers & acquisitions integration handbook: Helping companies realize the full value of acquisitions. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.