Business Commons^™

Sales and operations planning (S&OP) is a formal process instituted by companies that attempts to balance customer demand with product supply. In a recent survey of global manufacturers, 70% of the study participants had implemented an S&OP process suggesting broad adoption, at least among large-scale firms (Propokets 2012). Companies expend significant resources and human capital trying to make S&OP successful. The process is carried out by what can best be described as a cross-functional planning team comprised of mid-level managers and analysts (Stahl 2010; Wagner, Ullrich, and Transchel 2013). In order to achieve S&OP success the team must reconcile all …