Empirical and theoretical perspectives in sales and operations planning

Abstract

This paper’s purpose is to evaluate empirical and theoretical perspectives in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP). The methodology consists of a systematic literature review, analysing 292 publications from academics and practitioners. The results reveal that the empirical evidence has been initially obtained by practitioners and subsequently acquired by academics with a growing interest in recent years. Three main research streams are identified: S&OP and performance, implementation of S&OP, and contextualisation of S&OP designs. The investigation of theoretical foundations reveals an upward trend in external general theory usage and first signs of internal theory development in S&OP. The research findings call for more exploratory research to enhance the knowledge in the identified research streams and their interrelation. Herein, applying the design science approach is recommended to integrate practitioners into academic research. Further implications embrace a call for more theory-informed empirical S&OP research in a two-prone agenda: applying general theories from other fields and developing internal theories through middle-range theorising. A limitation of this paper is its focus on empirical studies, not embracing conceptual papers. Applications of this paper’s findings can help academics and practitioners to advance their understanding of the S&OP phenomenon. The awareness of study findings in the three main research streams, combined with empirical and theoretical research implications, can support the development of solutions to improve the S&OP effectiveness and evidence-based decisions in real-life settings. This work’s originality lies in the analysis of the S&OP literature with the focus on the evolution of empirical evidence and the theoretical foundations.

Global sales and operations planning: A multinational manufacturing company perspective

“…It combines the deductive logic from theory and inductive logic from field observation, in an attempt to elaborate further on theory on global S&OP, in a manner consistent with Ketokivi and Choi’s [ 33 ] strategy for theory elaboration in case study research. By building upon existing frameworks, the research applies the perspective of Meredith‘s [ 32 ] theory development approach aiming to advance the understanding on global S&OP, in the sense recently called for by Kreuter et al [ 18 ]. Fig 3 synthesises the research approach in a comprehensive roadmap.…”

“…On the other hand, by applying proven frameworks within a case study setting, this research enhances the external validity and generalisation of S&OP findings, and contributes to theory development by building a continuous line of research within the domain [ 32 ]. The paper’s findings contribute to developing a domain-specific theory on S&OP, in a sense of the middle-range theorising strategy from Sociology [ 61 ], addressing a recent call to extend the understanding of the S&OP phenomenon in this vein [ 18 , 19 ].…”

“…The paper contributes to theory elaboration and theory development through case study research [ 32 , 33 ], synthesising the main research findings into a framework for global S&OP. It thereby addresses a recent call for more theory-informed empirical research in S&OP [ 18 , 19 ]. The research findings are discussed from a cross-disciplinary view, opening an extended perspective on S&OP going beyond the traditional focus from Operations Management.…”

“…The interest in S&OP has raised significantly from both academics and practitioners in the last decades, with an increasing number of implementations in different industries worldwide [ 11 , 15 ] and a research growth reflected in recent literature reviews on the subject (e.g., [ 15 – 18 ]). Nevertheless, there are still knowledge gaps and research opportunities embracing the lack of a complete characterisation of the S&OP process [ 19 – 22 ], including the global S&OP in multinational manufacturing companies [ 18 , 20 , 23 , 24 ] and large-scale supply chains [ 25 ]. This is reflected in the scarcity of S&OP analyses beyond the standard local five-step approach to S&OP [ 26 ] and including additional steps in companies with global operations [ 20 , 24 ], aiming to integrate different local S&OP within subsidiaries into a worldwide S&OP.…”

“…This is reflected in the scarcity of S&OP analyses beyond the standard local five-step approach to S&OP [ 26 ] and including additional steps in companies with global operations [ 20 , 24 ], aiming to integrate different local S&OP within subsidiaries into a worldwide S&OP. Consequently, international or global S&OP processes should be further explored by case studies, as recently called for in Kreuter et al [ 18 ] and in Stentoft et al [ 27 ].…”