Running head: DEMAND CHAIN MANAGEMENT 1
Demand Chain Management
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DEMAND CHAIN MANAGEMENT 2
Demand Chain Management
Bumblauskas, D. P., Bumblauskas, P. D., Sapkota, K., Misra, P., & Ahsan, M. (2017). Is demand
chain management the new supply chain management? Will the demand channel trump
the supply channel?. Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability, 12(1), 30-40.
Demand chain management (DCM) is the management of relationships between the
clientele and suppliers to convey appropriate worth to the client at a minimal expenditure to the
entire demand chain. Fundamentally, Demand chain management and supply chain management
espouse similarities, although demand chain management specially deals with clients.
Bumblauskas et al. article on demand chain management comprehensively examines demand
chain management with expansive literature on how the concept applies to contemporary
establishments.
The authors’ purpose
The authors present an all-inclusive study and tracking of pieces in the demand chain
management field in this piece. Additionally, these authors offer micro and macro-level case
studies for demand chain management. The authors utilized a tracking methodology that
evaluates the methods and topics utilized by researchers and scholars examining demand chain
management (Bumblauskas et al., 2017). The authors also provide various high-level business
cases in the piece and their comprehensive study.
Background of the issue
The demand chain encompasses all the demand processes essential to appreciate,
generate, and rouse customer demand and is administered in demand chain management (DCM).
DEMAND CHAIN MANAGEMENT 3
For establishments in the contemporary setting to thrive, they must espouse an efficient demand
management process. In most instances, establishments compete to apply analytics and new
technologies to revamp their supply chains, minimize inventory and enhance customer service
while boosting profitability hence an effective demand management process.
The demand management process permits establishments to gather priceless insight,
skills and enhance the aptitude to plan and forecast while enhancing customer demands and
visibility. Demand management also helps establishments enhance inventory levels, boost
customer service, and augment trade and promotion planning alongside enhancing inventory
planning (Gligor, 2014). It is worth noting that demand management is robust than coining a
demand or sales forecast. Appropriate demand forecasting causes establishments to witness
enhanced supply chain costs and minimal margins. Similarly, demand management is a supply
chain process that balances a client’s needs with the supply chain’s aptitude.
When establishments institute the appropriate processes, they can proactively match
demand with supply and institute the plan with negligible interruptions. This process is not
limited to forecasting but encompasses synchronizing demand and supply, enhancing flexibility,
and minimizing variability.
DEMAND CHAIN MANAGEMENT 4
Application to supply chain management
The dynamic capabilities theory is an appropriate supply chain management theory that this article
can apply in its dealings. This theory exemplifies development strategies that those in managerial
positions in establishments can employ while maintaining necessary capability standards to guarantee
customer satisfaction. Fundamentally, supply chain management and demand chain management are
similar although demand chain management emphasis consumer-pull against supplier-push. This demand
commences with clients then traverses resellers, suppliers and supplementary associates’ who assist in the
marketing of an establishment’s services and products. On the other hand, supply-chain management is an
approach that manages the movement of raw materials within an entity and the internal processing of
materials into end items. It also involves movement of end products from the entity to the customer.
The article’s managerial implications
The article by Bumblauskas et al. has direct connotations on supply chain managers and their
engagements. The piece essentially illustrates how demand chain management emanates stems as a way
of integrating various corporate functions (Bumblauskas et al., 2017). As such, demand chain
management suggests that managers espouse enhanced vigilance while dealing with their customers to
ease the movement of goods and services from the manufacturer to the end user. By examining this
article, supply chains manager distinguish that they must augment the competence of the supply chain and
reduce costs. Additionally, this article also exemplifies that supply chain management is a complex
process characterized by several activities over various establishments and functions (A de Abreu &
Alcântara, 2015).These activities pose intricacies for managers to apply changes successfully.
DEMAND CHAIN MANAGEMENT 5
Article summary
Fundamentally, this article examines demand chain management. The article also provides a
comprehensive literature review that tracks the entire pertinent article associated with this issue. The
authors commence their research by locating articles that deal with demand chain management and
provide examples, data and cases which uphold demand chain management theory. In their findings, the
authors of this piece found immense redundancy in the located articles. They also found cases where
articles do not offer immense support to demand chain management. Since articles were recent, the
authors deduced that demand chain management was still an emerging field within the marketing realm.
In addition, the authors conceived that demand chain management’s popularity may have lost momentum
during the great recession or financial crisis (Bumblauskas et al., 2017). The article’s literature review
section encloses several articles that focus on demand chain management.
According to the authors, the literature review’s objective was to distinguish how the term
demand chain management came into being, and the issues and intricacies that establishments faced while
using demand chain management and how this concept has evolved over time. In their review, the authors
tabulate their research findings while summarizing the methods they have utilized in their studies. The
authors review each article and conclude that supply chain establishments must become more demand-
based to become establishments that utilize demand chain management. The authors further assert that
establishments must not discard their customer relation management and all the methods they need to
capture customer desires and needs.
DEMAND CHAIN MANAGEMENT 6
References`
A de Abreu, A., & Alcântara, R. L. C. (2015). Supply chain managers: Professional profile and the role in
the cross-functional integration of supply chain management. Independent journal of management &
production, 6(1), 44-63.
Bumblauskas, D. P., Bumblauskas, P. D., Sapkota, K., Misra, P., & Ahsan, M. (2017). Is demand
chain management the new supply chain management? Will the demand channel trump
the supply channel?. Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability, 12(1), 30-40.
Gligor, D. M. (2014). The role of demand management in achieving supply chain agility. Supply
Chain Management: An International Journal.
