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Vol 31 - No 02 - March 2005 Demanding Roles The Harvard Business Review (July-August 2004 p162,) recently re-published Shapiro’s pivotal article “Staple Yourself to an Order”. This was originally published in 1992 but the message it contains about integration and the risk of orders falling between functional stovepipes is as relevant today as it was over 10 years ago. In fact, it is perhaps even more important today as we all expect a more coherent, all embracing service, from our suppliers. Therefore, it is perhaps surprising that the subject of demand does not receive more management attention. Demand management has been defined as ‘the way of profitably meeting customer demand whilst ensuring service and quality’. We look at the four basic elements of demand management, and these are: Demand Creation Demand Communication Supply Creation Order Management. At a strategic level, organisations must manage total demand whilst they acquire new, or divest old, infrastructure, technology or skills. At the tactical level, the aim is to align resources to enhance customer value in the most profitable way. Operational demand management aims to provide reliable delivery performance within supply constraints. Page number: 12 Word count: 2500 Related Topics: Demand management
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