Deploying Strategy with Integrated Business Planning – Management Business Review

Introduction

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, strategy has become more crucial than ever. The CEO faces a challenging growth agenda. Companies are navigating a myriad of challenges, including technological advancements, shifting consumer preferences, and global economic uncertainties. On top of that, 70% of new product introductions fail, and 83% of mergers and acquisitions fail to deliver expected returns. These factors demand a robust and adaptive approach to strategy deployment, which IBP provides.

This paper provides an overview “Deploying Strategy with Integrated Business Planning.” It provides an overview of the fifth step in the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) process – The Management Business Review (MBR) – and its significance in shaping the future direction of the business and what it takes to be effective.

In the first white paper in this series, we introduced the concept of ”Connecting Strategy to Execution,“ through which individual strategies and plans at the business unit and functional levels are cascaded down through the organisation. In subsequent papers, we explored the role of each of the steps in the IBP process in operationalising these strategies and plans to deliver company objectives.

Each IBP review step – portfolio, demand, and supply – has specific roles in the IBP process. Each review has an executive owner responsible, for their part of the company strategy, supported by well-defined initiatives and projects. The portfolio team considers the market and decides which products to introduce or retire – they are responsible for shaping the portfolio to achieve financial goals based on market opportunity and company capabilities. The demand team develops an unconstrained demand plan based on the portfolio growth plan to meet customer expectations and improve performance. The supply team evaluates what it will take to meet the requirements of the portfolio and demand plans, assessing manufacturing, labor, input material, distribution, logistics, inventory, and cost implications.

Suppose the supply team determines it is not possible to deliver the updated plans from the Portfolio and Demand Reviews without changing the strategy, a significant capital investment, or an increase in capacity or resources. In that case, the issue is taken to the Integrated Reconciliation Review (IRR). The IRR, the subject of the fifth paper n the series, is a working session that prepares the agenda for the final stage of the IBP process – the Management Business Review.