Demand Chain Management

Demand chain management (DCM) is the management of upstream and downstream relationships between suppliers and customers to deliver the best value to the customer at the least cost to the demand chain as a whole. The term demand chain management is used to denote the concept commonly referred to as supply chain management, however with special regard to the customer pull. In that sense, demand chain management software tools bridge the gap between the customer relationship management and the supply chain management. The organization’s supply chain processes are managed to deliver best value according to the demand of the customers. A study of the university in Wageningen (the Netherlands) sees DCM as an extension of supply chain management, due to its incorporation of the market orientation perspective on its concept. While the term "demand-driven supply chain or network" denotes a set of concepts, the term "demand-driven execution" or DDE is used to express the means of achieving those concepts.