28 Jul 2021
Written by Greg Spira In one of my earlier posts, I stressed the point that eliminating Bias in the demand plan is critical to establish trust in it. Without trust, the plan is second-guessed or disregarded. Acknowledging that point, however,…
21 Jul 2021
Written by Crystal Lee While so often we talk about the need to be decisive, sometimes being decisive, means deciding to NOT make a decision. Wait, what? This is a pivotal concept within the larger framework of Integrated Business Planning…
14 Jul 2021
Written by Greg Spira When working with companies to improve their demand planning, I regularly get the question: “What is best-in-class forecast accuracy? What does good look like?” It’s a tricky question to answer. Many considerations must be taken into…
13 Jul 2021
As a 120-year-old institution, the salad dressing manufacturer Marzetti had survived many of the ups and downs of the ever-changing food industry. By 2017, however, it was clear that something needed to change. Consumers were moving towards healthier brands, and…
07 Jul 2021
Written by Crystal Lee Imagine deciding to climb Mount Everest. This 29,000-foot journey is not only difficult, it is dangerous. This is why even the most experienced mountaineer will employ the expert services of a mountain Sherpa. The role of…
24 Jun 2021
Written by Crystal Lee The increased accountability that comes with implementing an Integrated Business Plan sometimes isn’t welcomed news within a company. While most people like the word “accountability” there are some that only like the idea if it’s not…
16 Jun 2021
Written by Greg Spira One of the first things that I do when working with a company is carefully listen to the words that they use to describe their planning process, and then understand what their definition of those words is. In…
09 Jun 2021
Written By Donald McNaughton ‘Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I remember. Involve me, and I learn.’ — Benjamin Franklin I have dedicated my entire career to helping people learn. I have always tried to approach my work with…
02 Jun 2021
Written by Crystal Lee Sometimes the most profound truths are quite simple. And, as it pertains to business, the simple truth is that the value of a business is ultimately judged by its ability (or inability) to make a profit….
25 May 2021
Written by Greg Spira Often businesses struggle with a demand planning process anchored in numbers. If you are spending your time trying to reverse engineer forecasts to understand why one number is different than another, then you are facing the…
18 May 2021
Written By Donald McNaughton ‘Commitment without understanding is a liability.’ — Oliver Wight One of the many things that my mentor George Palmatier repeatedly impressed on me was the importance of clearly communicating what we mean and meaning what we communicate….
11 May 2021
Written By Donald McNaughton ‘The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.’ — Steven Spielberg Have you had the good fortune of having at least one mentor…
04 May 2021
Written by Crystal Lee One of the most successful television shows of all time is AMC’s classic period piece Mad Men. This deep look into the happenings of 1960’s Madison Avenue is fascinating, and no part of the show is…
27 Apr 2021
Written by Crystal Lee When you think back on your time in college / university, you will likely recall at least some teachers who were infamous for their boring classroom culture. Perhaps these classes included drawn out lectures with no…
20 Apr 2021
Written by Greg Spira When someone wants to change a plan number, the questions to ask are: “Why? Which assumption has changed, and is there agreement on the impact of the changed assumption?” Think about the demand planner when someone…
13 Apr 2021
Written By Donald McNaughton ‘In all my research, the greatest leaders looked inward and were able to tell a good story with authenticity and passion.’ Deepak Chopra Many times you have been told to ‘follow your passion?’ When Jon M. Jachimowicz…
06 Apr 2021
Written by Crystal Lee I have two friends with a history of air travel anxiety. Though they each had been on countless flights, the slightest disturbance of the aircraft really upset them. In their minds, any amount of turbulence was…
23 Mar 2021
Written by Crystal Lee When re-planning is ingrained in a business’s IBP/S&OP process, management teams are able to more efficiently forecast future performance, resolve conflict, and make necessary adjustments. Major League Baseball experienced a truly revolutionary shift in talent evaluation…
09 Mar 2021
Written by Greg Spira Leaders, like most people, make decisions and operate on that which they trust. If they don’t trust the demand plan, they will most likely adjust, override, or ignore it. How should we measure the trustworthiness of…
02 Mar 2021
Written by Crystal Lee There was once a company on the rise, who decided to take hold of their promising future. This forward-thinking company implemented integrated business planning, and eventually, thoughtful scenario planning commenced. Everyone was on board as anticipation…
25 Feb 2021
Written By Donald McNaughton After more than 21 years of supporting clients through education and consulting services I am periodically asked why I have not written more. In responding to this question I would often say that I am thinking about…
03 Jun 2020
By Pamelyn Lindsey, CSCP, Oliver Wight Principal With the impacts of the Coronavirus continuing to advance, how can we be prepared for events like these? While the response will be multifaceted, the most effective response is pre-planning. For those businesses,…
03 Jun 2020
By Stuart Harman, Partner at Oliver Wight Asia Pacific As countries, economies, communities and companies continue to work through the COVID-19 pandemic, thoughts are beginning to turn to what the post-coronavirus environment might look like and what the path there…
01 May 2020
By Stuart Harman and Rod Hozack, Partners at Oliver Wight Asia Pacific With the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, now spreading to other countries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, many businesses and governments are scrambling…
01 May 2020
By Stuart Harman and Rod Hozack, Partners at Oliver Wight Asia Pacific One CEO recently asked us “how do we communicate to everyone in our organisation that they should keep running the business as usual in the current climate?” Unfortunately,…
01 May 2020
By Andy Walker, Partner at Oliver Wight EAME It’s hard to imagine that two months ago hardly anyone had heard of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and now its impact on people, businesses and governments is being felt worldwide. The fact is a…
01 May 2020
By Debbie Bowen-Heaton, Oliver Wight Partner The last few weeks have drastically reinforced to me and my clients, the need to truly understand the demand patterns of not only our customers but also our customers’ customers. Whilst some businesses have…
01 May 2020
By Oliver Wight CEO, Les Brookes Over the past few weeks I have come across some comments dismissing the capability of Integrated Business Planning in supporting businesses through the coronavirus crisis. I wanted to take this opportunity to explain exactly…
01 May 2020
By Rod Hozack, Partner at Oliver Wight Asia Pacific Is there a sequence of steps to make the ITP process work? Integrated Tactical Planning operates through the quorum of people/roles, all the time – everyday, every hour. It is important,…
01 May 2020
By Rod Hozack, Partner at Oliver Wight Asia Pacific More than anything else, the quorum of people managing Integrated Tactical Planning is going to vary from company to company, industry to industry, and by size, so in this blog we…
01 May 2020
By Rod Hozack, Partner at Oliver Wight Asia Pacific Change in the context of Integrated Business Planning is defined as a significant alteration to any of the core plans – causing a knock-on effect to the inventory position and/or financial…
01 May 2020
By Rod Hozack, Partner at Oliver Wight Asia Pacific In the last article, we defined time fences and outlined the value in managing the tactical horizon. In this blog, we look at what plans are being managed with Integrated Tactical…
15 Apr 2020
By Rod Hozack, Partner at Oliver Wight Asia Pacific In our previous blog, we discussed what Integrated Tactical Planning is and when you should consider implementing it. In this blog, we address the foundation of effective ITP – the ‘time…
15 Apr 2020
By Rod Hozack, Partner at Oliver Wight Asia Pacific There has been an enormous amount of literature published about Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) and, more recently, Integrated Business Planning, espousing their benefits and the need for a formal monthly…
15 Apr 2020
By Pamelyn Lindsey, CSCP, Oliver Wight Principal This blog is part of a learning series on Scenario Planning. Please check out our other pieces on this topic: white paper and webinar. There is a tendency to think of business plans…
19 Jun 2019
In our recent survey, we received 124 responses providing us with some interesting insights on both the causes of this deterioration as well as the reasons why the level of supply chain excellence either stayed the same or got better.
20 Mar 2019
It is probably safe to say we all have lived through a bit of chaos at times, where we feel things are out of control and fires are popping up everywhere. This can apply to a number of areas. If we think about how this applies to Demand Execution, we see executives getting involved in the details.
20 Nov 2018
Whether a large project across many global business segments and years, or a small quick improvement project taking less than a quarter, there is a high risk of failure. Even if successful, the results may not be sustainable.
29 Oct 2018
Businesses today face ever-increasing frequency and magnitude of change in the global marketplace. Companies that still do annual planning and budgeting the traditional way are wasting time and money and will be left behind.
05 Jun 2018
No matter how large or small, manufacturing or pharmaceutical or electronics, every business relies on a leader to chart the course and steer the ship. But if your talent is paddling a dinghy while the competition is piloting a super yacht, your business will sink in a nanosecond.
27 Apr 2018
Decision making can be one of the most frustrating aspects of being a leader, a manager, an employee, and a human being. Decisions are second guessed. That’s the genesis of the term “arm-chair quarterback.” It seems much easier to debate a decision after it has been made than to make the decision in the first place. Information requested upon which to base a decision is not believed. People fight over the information. Is the data right? Go get more data to prove whether it is right or wrong.
27 Oct 2017
We know what you’re likely to say. “Sure, we’re engaged. We ensure the books are accurate. We handle the monthly closing, do the analysis to explain performance, reforecast the rest of the quarter, and sometimes the year. What more do…
28 Sep 2017
I hate arguments. Some people say arguing among executives spurs greater creativity when problem solving. I disagree. All too often, the business leader who argues the most forcefully, or the longest, “wins” the argument. And the business loses. It doesn’t…
31 Aug 2017
Before you answer that, let us answer for you … “Probably not!” Our experience, both as financial practitioners and consultants, is that most CFOs’ eyes are focused on financial “operations” – being the “Financial Custodian.” Monthly closing. Last month’s performance….
15 Jun 2017
With an ever-growing number of technologies available, as well as globally mobile talent, many companies are turning to their people as a source of competitive advantage. However, if employees aren’t properly educated and trained, then how do you expect them…
26 May 2017
Recently I’ve helped supply teams that had lost the ability to plan and control their supply chain with realistic expectations, develop a plan and avert a crisis. The supply teams’ companies had fallen victim to the bow wave and hockey stick phenomenon….
03 May 2017
I often come across executives who are frustrated and exhausted – from firefighting, from running meeting to meeting only to get detailed updates on what happened yesterday, from a seemingly endless barrage of data, and on and on. I’ve been…
28 Apr 2017
Our Product and Portfolio Management course is designed to drive home Oliver Wight’s best practices with extensive visuals, media, simulations, and interaction among class attendees! Small team workshops with assignments will be conducted to reinforce the understanding of the fundamental…
04 Apr 2017
All companies face difficulties when it comes to sustaining growth due to unpredictable economic conditions and competition. Middle-market companies, however, deal with their own unique hurdles. Middle-market companies only account for three percent of the companies in the U.S. and…
15 Mar 2017
It can be extremely stressful for organizations to hit their numbers, especially so for the executives who are in charge of responding to the demands of shareholders and are focused on making a company profitable again. When it comes to…
06 Mar 2017
Just get assigned to a new role in Demand or Forecasting and not sure where to turn for professional assistance? There is help available!!!! Whether you feel like you are riding the decks of the Titanic, or you need some…
28 Feb 2017
Did you know that when you Google “How to improve millennial retention rates?” over one million different search results come up? This is because a vast majority of businesses these days are missing the mark when it comes to communicating…
14 Feb 2017
There is an old saying; “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” However, if you never understood what you had in the first place, you will not even know that much. Many companies today continue on, quarter after…
30 Dec 2016
As leading educators and business coaches in disciplines such as Integrated Business Planning (Advanced S&OP), Demand Planning, and Integrated Planning and Control, Oliver Wight wants to pass along our knowledge with this new blog. As this blog series progresses, we…
