New White Paper – Marketing’s Role in the Integrated Business Planning Process: An Advanced Version of Sales and Operations Planning

Oliver Wight Americas, Inc. Releases White Paper on Maximizing Return on Investment By Incorporating Strategic Marketing Plans Within Integrated Business Planning.

NEW LONDON, NH – May 2, 2012

Oliver Wight Americas, Inc. has released its newest white paper, “Marketing’s Role in the Integrated Business Planning Process: An Advanced Version of Sales and Operations Planning.”

David Holmes, an Oliver Wight principal and Demand Management expert, shares insight into marketing from a strategic business planning perspective. This paper underscores why an organization’s marketing group is a critical stakeholder within Integrated Business Planning (IBP), the advanced process that integrates additional functional areas beyond the classic demand and supply chain balancing roles of Sales and Operations Planning.

The Integrated Business Planning process is done on a monthly basis, typically spanning a rolling planning horizon of 24 months or longer to evaluate and revise time-phased projections for demand, supply, product, and portfolio changes, strategic projects, and the resulting financial plans. Through this strategic planning process, the executive team continually achieves focus and alignment among all the functions of the organization.

One of the key participants in this integrated management process is the marketing group which, by its very nature, should be planning two years and beyond. David illustrates that within the Integrated Business Planning horizon, marketing naturally aligns at touch points that include strategic review and financial appraisals that arc across:

1. Management Business Review – Is the company achieving return on brand investment?
2. Product Management Review – Is the brand strategy aligned to the company strategy?
3. Demand Review – Is the company realizing required growth from the brand strategy?
4. Supply Review – Is supply aligned to the brand strategy?

The author shows how marketing provides valuable input during demand review and delivers competitive analyses, spending projections for marketing programs, and predictions for market share growth. Discussion includes three key areas where marketing contributes to the Integrated Business Planning process:

1. Brand spend and awareness
2. Marketing program spend vs. predicted, incrementally
3. Competitive analysis – effects of competition in the market

A subjective measure of brand awareness indicates how a brand is rated or ranked in a particular market and how it impacts demand. David Holmes demonstrates why brand tracking within Integrated Business Planning is important to ensure the marketing investment is in line with the level of projected business growth and ensure related marketing activities are aligned with company strategy, including product development.

The author explains how marketing analysis drives product management through data that supports whether to upgrade, reposition, or discontinue current products. In some cases, a “new” product may simply be an existing one that marketing can reposition for a new market or price point.

Marketing is typically included in demand review. David points out that in most industries, marketing also plays a critical role in product management by providing market data and insight about the competition’s future activities. He notes that it is absolutely essential that competitive intelligence is managed proactively with a well thought-through, two-year plus, perspective since this data is used in product development to determine and manage product life cycles and product family franchise roadmaps.

The paper illustrates how spend vs. demand reviews are designed to drive incremental business, including a detailed business case comparing program cost to predicted incremental business. The author provides example metrics and supporting graphics to reinforce how marketing data and strategy review contribute to the Integrated Business Planning process.

David Holmes builds a compelling case that marketing fills a key role in strategic planning for product management and business development. Through inclusion of marketing within the Integrated Business Planning process, organizations can ensure that plans for marketing program spending, brand spending, and market share are working together effectively and are aligned to the agreed-upon executive strategy.

Read this white paper now.

About Oliver Wight

Oliver Wight Americas, established more than 40 years ago, is recognized throughout the world as thought leaders and practical coaches and educators. The company is a pioneer in integrated business planning methodologies, including enterprise resource planning, capacity planning, master scheduling, production planning, demand planning, and sales and operations planning.

The company’s coaches and educators are required to have practitioner experience operating to industry best practices as a prerequisite to joining the firm. These seasoned professionals excel at transferring knowledge and experience at all levels of an organization. The largest worldwide consultancy of its type, Oliver Wight has offices throughout Europe, North and South America, and the Asia/Pacific Region. For more information, please visit www.oliverwight-americas.com.