a paragraph- discussion 5

Collaboration with suppliers for S&OP

Underlying purpose of Sales and Operations Planning is to maintain a balance between Supply and Demand. Successful demand management can be achieved by collaborating with internal departments like marketing. Similarly, the role of external stakeholders like suppliers is equally critical in managing the supply. Discuss how the collaboration with suppliers is important in sales and operations planning. At what stages of planning and to what extent, the suppliers need to be involved?