Question

GLOBAL MACROTRENDS AND THEIR IMPACT ON SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

How does shaping demand differ from anticipating demand? Who can shape demand, and how is it accomplished?

(3-4 paragraphs please) (4-5 sentences each)

Answer 1

Demand shaping is a supply chain management (SCM) strategy used to motivate customers to purchase specific item by taking strategies such as cost adjustments, price incentives, and product substitutes. It is designed to help the company meets the needs of a specific product with its planned distribution. New product launches to increase demand, price optimization, and sales promotions are just some of these key strategies common to a demand shaping strategy. For product development estimations demand shaping techniques can be used. A common demand shaping tactic is real time pricing, this allows a company or product to quickly adjust prices to respond to market needs.

Demand anticipation is the evaluation performed in the present for a future event. Demand anticipation is used to take various business decisons like business process planning, fund managing, pricing and purchasing. Demand can be anticipated using different types of forecasting techniques by own or by the help of consulting firms. Survey methods, statistical methods and econometric methods, barometric methods and trend projection methods can be used to anticipate the demand. Anticipation of demand is important to fulfilling onjectives, production stability, budget creation, decision making and performance evaluation.

In supply chain management strategy demand and supply are takes together to make overall strategy for the development of the organizations. The sales and operations planning team plans by demand forecasting, production planning and reconciliations. Sometimes demand comes beyond our control. Demand mainly market driven and no one can influence the occurance of it. We can do some plans to increase the demand or decrease the demand.

The demand can be increase or decrease by a supplier through changing prices to both sides, whichever is necessary. Making changes in incentives can be influence in demand. Changing promotional programs also effects demand changes. The demand can also be influenced by changing distribution quantity. All of these leads to change in demand. The success of these efforts can be taken to counteract the final demand plan and clear future efforts.