Global sales and operations planning: A multinational manufacturing company perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the global Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process and investigate the steps to support consolidated business planning in worldwide operations and large-scale supply chains. The paper conducts a case study at a multinational manufacturing company applying an abductive approach. It combines the deductive logic from theory and the inductive logic from field observation in an attempt to elaborate further on theory on global S&OP. The analysis is structured and guided by a novel framework for global S&OP, which is developed based on the theoretical background and the case study findings. The research findings characterise the S&OP process for global operations and identify challenges related to the need to synchronise the subsidiaries’ S&OP efforts worldwide to deal with different contingencies of these subsidiaries, and to manage and analyse a large amount of information gathered. The research reveals how the subsidiaries’ performance is analysed by top executives along the global S&OP process, feeding strategic initiatives in the organisation and identifying business opportunities like benchmarking among subsidiaries, synergies with other management practices, and global gains. This paper offers a novel investigation of the global steps on S&OP in a real-life setting, offering a well-documented characterisation of the process that goes beyond the traditional local approach. Moreover, it is the first study to reveal challenges and expected outcomes of such a global perspective for S&OP. The theoretical advancements of S&OP research offered herein aid scholars, opening avenues for middle-range theorising, highlighting the cross-disciplinary nature of the domain, and discussing the use of concepts from related disciplines like Economics, Psychology, and Information Systems. The research findings can also assist executives, especially from multinational manufacturers, in their efforts to consolidate global planning.

SALES AND OPERATIONS PLANNING GLOBAL ROLL-UP e GLOBAL EXECUTIVE MEETING STEPS AND THE ROLE OF FINANCE IN THE PROCESS: A MULTI-CASE STUDY IN THE LATIN AMERICAN SUBSIDIARIES OF MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS

“…Chapter 5 presents the global S&OP process, highlights and discusses the results about benchmarking, global gains, local gains, and synergies with ERP implementation. More information about the global S&OP process in multinational companies can be found in Seeling et al (2021b), including a detailed description of the framework of the S&OP process in 7 steps, built based on the field observations performed along the research. The questionnaire used in the interviews is particularly important in this effort to characterize the S&OP global steps in this chapter with specific questions regarding the Global roll-up and the Global Executive Meeting.…”

“…frameworks as guidelines to characterize the S&OP process performed in each organization. The six papers listed in Table1(Seeling et al, 2016;Seeling et al, 2018a;Seeling et al 2018b;Seeling et al 2019;Seeling et al, 2021b;and Seeling et al, 2022) are used to support the S&OP process characterization butSeeling et al (2022) brings the biggest…”