An S&OP communication plan: The final step in support of company strategy

Preview

Over the past 30 years, sale and operations planning (S&OP) has generally advanced beyond the goals of balancing supply and demand. In recent Foresight articles, Mark Moon and Pete Alle (Spring 2015) discussed the integration of finance and senior leadership into supply-chain planning, while Dean Sorensen (Winter 2016) detailed the ways in which S&OP can and should be broadened to encompass enterprise-wide planning and performance management.

We are seeing that mature S&OP processes now support rolling forecasts, enterprise resource reallocation, and strategy execution. In this article, however, Niels van Hove argues that to keep employees informed, engaged, and focused on executing strategy, S&OP outcomes must be communicated properly. He calls for a variety of communication channels, both structured and informal.

Introduction

Most companies have a business “strategy,” but many struggle to execute it. According to a study by Kaplan and Norton (2005), the fundamental disconnect between strategy formulation and implementation has resulted in implementation failure rates of 60 to 90 percent. Smith and Ward (2005) found that while 80 percent of executives express satisfaction with their business strategy, only 14 per cent are satisfied with the execution of the strategy. The ultimate goal of S&OP is the generation of a plan to support an organization’s efforts to deploy and execute its strategy.

In our busy day-to-day schedules, it’s easy to forget that communication is a key feature of these efforts. But to support strategy, communication must be an integral part of the S&OP process.

Full copy of the article is available in a .pdf format below

An S&OP communication plan: The final step in support of company strategy

An S&OP communication plan: The final step in support of company strategy

We are seeing that mature S&OP processes now support rolling forecasts, enterprise resource reallocation, and strategy execution. In this article, however, Niels van Hove argues that to keep employees informed, engaged, and focused on executing strategy, S&OP outcomes must be communicated properly. He calls for a variety of communication channels, both structured and informal.

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About the author

My passion is to help individuals and organizations be themselves at their best.

As coach, I founded www.MentalToughness.online to help individuals and businesses improve their mental strength, well-being and performance.

As consultant, I help businesses bridge their strategy to execution gaps and improve their integrated business planning cycle.

My free strategy execution framework will measure your strategy execution readiness and improve strategy alignment in your leadership team.