Role of Emerging Markets in Demand-Supply Chain Management

This research aims to enhance the current understanding and knowledge of the demand-supply chain management (DSCM) concept by determining its elements, benefits, and requirements, and by illustrating its occurrence in practice. In addition, it aims to shed light on the role of emerging markets in this management approach. We examine DSCM through thorough literature review, analyze second hand financial data from world-class actors, and provide single case study analysis from Swedish manufacturing company operating on an international basis in the appliance industry. This research has established that the main elements of DSCM include market orientation, coordination of the demand and supply processes, viewing the demand and supply processes as equally important, value creation in the demand and supply processes, differentiation in the demand and supply processes, innovativeness in the demand and supply processes, responsiveness in the demand and supply processes, and cost-efficiency in the demand and supply processes. Furthermore, it has been revealed that the main benefits of DSCM include enhanced competiveness, enhanced demand chain performance, and enhanced supply chain performance. Moreover, it has been shown that the main requirements of DSCM include organizational competences, company established principles, demand-supply chain collaboration, and information technology support. Research also shows that emerging markets are used significantly to lower costs in the sourcing and manufacturing parts of the supply chain. Based on case study DSCM approach with long implementation time and increased costs (of marketing and product development) will lead into situation, where emerging low cost producers in markets have even higher responsibility from brand supplies, so instead of component production larger entities are in their responsibility. However, this offshoring will occur only in limited extent – significant manufacturing activity of DSCM companies still remains near of most important markets, like Europe.