Cross functional alignment in supply chain planning

de Rogelio Oliva

In most organizations, supply chain planning is a cross-functional effort. Functional areas such as sales, marketing, finance, and operations traditionally specialize in portions of the planning activities, which results in conflicts over expectations, preferences, and priorities. We report findings from a detailed case analysis of a successful supply chain planning process. In contrast to traditional research on this area, which focuses on incentives, responsibilities, and structures, we adopt a process perspective and find that integration was achieved despite an incentive structure which did not support it. By drawing a distinction between the incentive landscape and the planning process, we identify process as an additional mediator, beyond structure and responsibilities, that can affect organizational outcomes. Thus, organizations may be capable of integration while different functions retain different incentives to maintain focus on their stakeholders' needs. We hypothesize that achieving alignment in the execution of plans can be more important than informational and procedural quality. We close by discussing the implications of our findings for organizations and researchers.