Enabling strategic alignment in the sales and operations planning process
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Date
2024
Authors
Shanahan, Alan Jeremiah (Jerry)
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University College Cork
Published Version
Abstract
Organisations have struggled to leverage their Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) processes to deliver the growth expectations of the business, as defined by their strategy. Despite the promise of Strategic Alignment (SA) built into the S&OP process definition, practice has shown that while organisations get value from balancing supply to demand, they struggle to make longer-term strategic decisions, due to not achieving strategic alignment.
The purpose of this research was to investigate what factors and approaches could be identified to enable organisations to achieve ‘SA in S&OP’. The research journey, adopting a critical realist research philosophy, involved a number of steps supporting the development of an evolving conceptual framework. Insights from theory and practice were explored in an iterative manner before the final synthesis was concluded. An Integrative Literature Review (ILR) of existing literature, across a range of mixed method academic studies and practitioner publications, enabled the identification of key constructs and relationships. The resulting conceptual framework, associated research propositions and research questions, were then explored by a group of acknowledged experts in a Delphi field study. Returning to the academic literature the next step identified three relevant theoretical lenses to provide a theoretical grounding to the framework in the form of Contingency Theory (CT), Resource Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capabilities View (DCV) theories. Finally an intrinsic single case study allowed an in-depth investigation to determine to what extent the conceptual framework was reflective of best practice.
The findings showed that four contingency variables (Education, S&OP maturity, S&OP scope, Strategic plan) support the building of five response variables (Product portfolio management, strategic projects management, strategic KPIs, Integrated business plan, assumptions management) to enable SA, demonstrated by strategic discussions and ultimately strategic decision making. An intangible growth mindset developed from the iterative monthly cycle of striving to achieve a fit between the contingency and response variables, leveraging a set of S&OP principles, is an essential ingredient to achieving SA.
This research makes a key contribution to practice in providing guidance for organisations on how to achieve ‘SA in S&OP’, based on a theoretically grounded framework, expanding the utility of the theories of CT, RBV/DCV.
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Keywords
S&OP , Strategic alignment , Strategic decision making , Integrated Business Planning , Contingency Theory , Resource Based View , Dynamic Capabilities View , Delphi study , Case study
Citation
Shanahan, A. J. 2024. Enabling strategic alignment in the sales and operations planning process. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.