Demand Chain Management : Integrating Marketing and Supply Chain Management for Enhancing Customer Value Proposition

Providing customer service in the value chain is largely the domain of two functional areas – marketing and supply chain management (SCM). Marketing and SCM often operate as self-optimizing, independent entities. Undoubtedly, one important strategic issue that needs more research is the integration of marketing and SCM activities. In many firms, the SCM still seems to be disconnected from the demand side as it has only a faint idea of the drivers behind customer demand. The paper aims to focus on and discuss the issues of the marketing led firms and the SCM led firms. This paper aims to investigate between the renewed emphasis and interests in integration of marketing and SCM in the form of demand chain management (DCM). DCM can leverage the strengths of marketing and SCM and meet the challenges of customer value creation in today's marketplace. Firms that have integrated their marketing and SCM capabilities and developed an effective DCM are more successful in bringing often-conflicting objectives more closely together