Category Archives: Demand chains

The term “Demand chain” emerges from the old supply chain terminology, but recognises that the customer is king. In every chain, an end customer needs to buy something, the rest of the chain is just about sharing the outcome of that transaction, the whole thing is driven by “Demand”. This category recognises the primacy of demand in the marketing and strategic thinking of sccessful businesses.

Value chain sustainability.

Posted on May 2, 2012 by strategyaudit

The word sustainable holds connotations of farming practices, and environmental sensitivity, all true, but only half the story. A sustainable chain must also be commercially sustainable, and one without the other is by definition, unsustainable. The characteristic that drive both … Continue reading →

Posted in Category, Demand chains, Operations, retail | Tagged category management, customer, demand chain, Operations, performance assessment, retailer, supply chain, Value chain | Leave a comment

Reference class forecasting

Posted on September 19, 2011 by strategyaudit

People routinely forecast optimistically, they under-forecast costs, and over-forecast outcomes. We have all seen it happen repeatedly in businesses and the public sector, most of us have seen it on personal level. Demand planning is the core of effective operational … Continue reading →

Posted in Demand chains, Operations, Strategy | Tagged demand chain, lean, Operations, performance assessment, supply chain, Value chain | Leave a comment

Organic opportunities abound

Posted on August 8, 2011 by strategyaudit

On Friday I made a very modest contribution to the proceedings of the Organic and Green trade show in Sydney. A bunch of committed, passionate people, working their collective butts off to build businesses that deliver on the organic promise … Continue reading →

Posted in Customers, Demand chains, Marketing, Small business | Tagged Change, customer, demand chain, Marketing, retailer, Social Media, Strategy, web stuff | Leave a comment

Lean operations undermine “offshoring?”.

Posted on January 20, 2011 by strategyaudit

Some time ago I mused that perhaps the worm was slowing if not turning, in relation to local manufacturing, rather than buying in from China as the default option. The crisis in the US, far worse than anything in this … Continue reading →

Posted in Demand chains, Management, OE, Operations, Strategy | Tagged Change, demand chain, lean, Management, Strategy, Value chain | Leave a comment

Marketing & Demand Chain Transparency

Posted on January 18, 2011 by strategyaudit

The retailer Patagonia has as a part of its corporate values a reverence for the environment, it is a core part of their corporate values, and highly relevant to their target market. They wear their hearts on their electronic sleeves … Continue reading →

Posted in Customers, Demand chains, Marketing, Social Media | Tagged climate change, collaboration, communication, customer, demand chain, Marketing, retailer, Social Media, Value chain | Leave a comment

Commercial sustainability needs people.

Posted on December 20, 2010 by strategyaudit

The next time you hear an argument that justifies moving Australian manufacturing to a low cost country in order to compete, refer to this post on the Evolving Excellence blog describing the work practices in a Toyota’s Kyushu plant. … Continue reading →

Posted in Demand chains, Leadership, Lean, OE, Operations, Strategy | Tagged change management, collaboration, customer, demand chain, Leadership, lean, Operations, performance assessment, Politics, Strategy, supply chain, Value chain | Leave a comment

Lean lessons from the pub

Posted on December 4, 2010 by strategyaudit

Last Friday night I was in a small local club with a client, co-incidentally as they had the weekly member “badge-draw” which had jackpotted to $19,000. As you can imagine the joint was packed, it took 20 minutes lining up … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, Demand chains, Lean | Tagged Change, demand chain, lean, Operations | 1 Comment

Manufacturing capability shortcomings

Posted on September 26, 2010 by strategyaudit

A while ago I wrote that there seemed to be the beginnings of some thinking amongst the smaller manufacturing operations I interact with about the relative value of manufacturing in high cost Australia, and retaining control of, and having the … Continue reading →

Posted in Demand chains, Management, Operations, Strategy | Tagged change management, demand chain, Leadership, lean, Operations, Value chain | Leave a comment

Lean manufacturing and Demand chains.

Posted on July 18, 2010 by strategyaudit

Two differing approaches to management improvement you may think? Not so. Both require extensive: * Collaboration, * Transparency, * Robust processes, * A set of values imbued through an individual organisation, and group of organisations in a demand chain, * Respect … Continue reading →

Posted in Demand chains, OE, Operations | Tagged demand chain, Leadership, lean, Operations, Value chain | Leave a comment

The Newtonian paradox of groups.

Posted on May 12, 2010 by strategyaudit

Successful groups have great power, power to identify, understand the causes and implications of problems and opportunities, and come up with creative responses, and once moving can gather great momentum. Most workplaces are now actively seeking to harness the intellect … Continue reading →

Posted in Alliance management, Demand chains, Leadership, Operations | Tagged Alliance management, communication, demand chain, lean, Operations | Leave a comment

Successful chains are communities

Posted on May 11, 2010 by strategyaudit

When people are tied together, when they are in “communities” they tend to develop shared values, aspirations, and courses of action. The incidence of double dealing, dishonesty, personal gain at the expense of the community gain, are reduced. An efficient … Continue reading →

Posted in Alliance management, Demand chains, Leadership | Tagged Alliance management, demand chain, Value chain | Leave a comment

“Democtratising knowledge” in demand chains

Posted on April 29, 2010 by strategyaudit

Democratising knowledge, isn’t this a lovely term! I have heard it used on a number of occasions recently, and it came up again in an extraordinary TED presentation by Stephen Wolfram . In just two words it nails the complex … Continue reading →

Posted in Alliance management, Communication, Demand chains, Social Media, Strategy | Tagged demand chain, Innovation, supply chain, web stuff | Leave a comment

Transactions and obligations in a demand chain

Posted on April 22, 2010 by strategyaudit

Isn’t it interesting, when we pay for something, we have an expectation of what that transaction will deliver to us, but there is little sense of lingering obligation. However, if we just do something for someone, any small piece of … Continue reading →

Posted in Demand chains, Leadership | Tagged demand chain, Leadership | Leave a comment

Customers drive chains

Posted on April 21, 2010 by strategyaudit

Integrated value chains are nothing new. IBM had one before it started “outsourcing” what turned out to be the future to Microsoft and Intel, Ford had one at centered around the Dearborn factory, from where the company controlled by owning … Continue reading →

Posted in Customers, Demand chains, Leadership | Tagged customer, demand chain, Value chain | Leave a comment

Forecasting and demand planning.

Posted on April 11, 2010 by strategyaudit

Developing a forecast of what you need to make to sell is a different proposition to doing a demand forecast, it is much more than a semantic difference. A forecast is usually an extrapolation, sometimes very sophisticated, but an extrapolation … Continue reading →

Posted in Demand chains, Management, Operations | Tagged demand chain, Management, Operations | 1 Comment

To collaborate or not to collaborate

Posted on March 31, 2010 by strategyaudit

It seems that everywhere there is a drive to collaborate, without any real regard to the challenges of collaboration, the behavioral and cultural changes necessary for success. Collaboration has become an end in itself, rather than a strategy that has … Continue reading →

Posted in Alliance management, Change, Demand chains, OE | Tagged Alliance management, change management, Value chain | 1 Comment

Successful alliances manage the dissimilarities.

Posted on January 7, 2010 by strategyaudit

Alliances form because organizations have similarities, and commonalities that promise synergy. However, most alliances fail because they fail to manage the areas if dissimilarity. Leo Tolstoy remarked that happy marriages were the result of the manner in which partners dealt … Continue reading →

Posted in Demand chains, Management, Strategy | Tagged Alliance management, demand chain, Management, Value chain | Leave a comment

Resilience is a requirement for demand chains.

Posted on January 5, 2010 by strategyaudit

Evolving a demand chain requires great resilience from all parties involved, it is new territory every time it is addressed because all situations are different, and developing a set of rules for implementation has not yet been done well, … Continue reading →

Posted in Demand chains, Innovation | Tagged demand chain, Innovation | Leave a comment

Demand chain innovation pay-off

Posted on December 17, 2009 by strategyaudit

Turning a supply chain 180 degrees to become a demand chain is an inordinately difficult organizational challenge, not because it does not make sense, but because it requires organizations and the people in them to be able to see … Continue reading →

Posted in Demand chains, Leadership | Tagged demand chain, Leadership, supply chain | Leave a comment