Defining Demand Management

Abstract

Purpose: Define demand management concept and provide a guidance for the preconditions that need to be in place in order for a company to implement demand management process with its suppliers and customers. Design/methodology/approach: Uses the systematic literature review divided into three stages: planning the review, conducting the review, and reporting the review. Findings: This study clarifies the concept of demand management as the creation of synergies between operations and marketing aiming at understanding the market and developing actions synchronized with the company strategy, production capacity and final customer needs. Thus, in order to implement demand management process, it is necessary to understand the market through the capability analysis, constraints, and opportunities of external and internal environments to the organization. Such knowledge, together with the guidelines and strategic and operational practices of the company, focus on designing an efficient operational system to synchronize supply and demand through sales forecasting. In order to do so, the company needs a collaborative supply chain that consist of establishing corporative efforts between internal functions and external agents to the company aiming at meeting the final customers' needs and obtaining competitive advantage. Practical implications: This study contribute to a better understanding and a broader view of demand manag-ement. The framework proposed has considerable applicability for practitioners providing guidance to implement demand management process in order to overcome the challenges of combining customer needs and supply chain capabilities. Originality/value: The demand management concept and framework have not previously been studied in great depth. The paper provides new knowledge and further contributes to academic thinking by clarifying demand management concept and proposing a guidance for demand management implementation.