Sales & Operations Planning process: a new approach To Managing business

SALES & OPERATIONS PLANNING PROCESS: A NEW APPROACH TO MANAGING BUSINESS Because of the increasing use of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process in managing business, we decided to put together a special issue on it. According to the recent survey by the Institute of Business Forecasting, 62% of the companies have this process in place though what stage they are in varies. Many of the companies are, of course, in the beginning stage of the S&OP process. The objective of this issue is to show what exactly S&OP process is, why we need it, how to implement it, what can be accomplished with it; and what is the experience of companies that have already implemented it. Every company has some kind of process in place to manage business. The S&OP is a re-engineered process which emphasizes the alignment of demand, supply, budget and strategic goals to improve efficiency, and optimize profit and growth. The process starts with a review of product portfolio, that is, what products will be continued or discontinued. If there is any new product(s) to be introduced, product portfolio will reflect that. After the S&OP team decides on the product portfolio, the next step is to generate ...