Value Chain Planning: Assessing Demand Signals in an International Environment

Technology has advanced rapidly to enable automatic corporate value chain planningusing programs that are available for purchase. Between 2012 and 2018, however, the percentage of CEOs who said they felt leaders of operating businesses and leaders of IT were aligned (agreed as to the role of IT within an operating business organization) decreased from 65% to 37% according to Capgemini, with only 35% of responding CEOs agreeing with IT leaders on how IT can contribute to corporate productivity, down from 59% in 2012. Executives must step back, ask then answer why this dichotomy persists?This paper will focus on six variables that, together, may explain in part the perception that automated data does not meet expectations in value chain planning. Variables include: an inverse correlation between inclusion of IT experts in corporate value chain forecasting and trusting them (as more IT experts are being consulted, fewer are trusted); an increasing distance between IT capabilities and senior business executives’ knowledge thereof (pace of IT change exceeds pace of decision-makers’ growing ITknowledge); an increased perception by business leaders that IT does not capture “new disruptors” rapidly enough, so data provided will be aged before it can be used; an increased perception by corporate decision-makers that their competitors are using the same IT forecasting technology, requiring them to be different; various value chain forecasting programs compete with each other, confusing corporate decision-makers over what brand(s) to select; value chain forecasting programs necessarily must change constantly, rendering corporate decision-makers reluctant to make hefty long-term financial commitments to any given brand(s), fearing obsolescence before reasonable return on investment. These variables seem to become more negative as corporations become more international, when national cultures interface with corporate culture.