Supply’s Demand-Shaping Roles

This column deals with demand-shaping activities, the primary responsibility of marketing and sales managers. However, while not responsible for demand-shaping per se, supply chain managers should play two important roles. The first of these is ensuring that supply is in place to meet all anticipated future demand. The second, often overlooked by these managers, is advocating that demand-shaping be done with supply in mind. The second role involves a better alignment of demand with potential available supply, and is aimed at maximizing profitability, in contrast to just maximizing revenues. LARRY LAPIdE | Dr. Lapide is a Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and an MIT Research Affiliate. He has extensive experience in industry, consulting, business research, and academia as well as a broad range of forecasting, planning, and supply chain experiences. He was an industry forecaster for many years, led supply chain consulting projects for clients across a variety of industries, and has researched supply chain and forecasting software as an analyst. He is the recipient of the inaugural Lifetime Achievement in Business Forecasting & Planning Award from the IBF. ...