The effect of supply chain integration on demand planning process. An empirical evaluation

One of supply chain management concepts, strongly conditioned upon inter-organizational integration, is demand planning, encompassing a sequence of activities concerning the coordinated flow of demand through companies, effectively supported by specific methods and technical instruments. The paper seeks to explore the contribution of multidimensional aspects of supply chain integration in the methods and instruments supporting demand planning process. In order to achieve this goal, the research methodology was employed. Having performed a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation in a space of the variables manifesting supply chain integration, the constructs were extracted and employed as classification criteria in a cluster analysis. The results of the study show that the examined supply chains may be grouped into three classes having distinct characteristics. The findings of the paper demonstrate the types and intensity of the use of methods and instruments supporting demand planning process regarding the level of supply chain integration.