The concept covers progress on the key issues of

• developing a clear strategy
• putting in place all the key supporting processes
• developing the appropriate measurement tools into a full scorecard
• developing the supporting information technology
• clarifying how the organization will develop trading relationships
• ensuring the company's organization can cope with Demand Management
• The concept stresses the need to develop these issues in parallel.

The concept can increase costs associated with 'Manage Product Categories' but these costs are often offset by reduced costs in other sales and marketing activities and the benefits from increased demand.

While the optimal organization structure will vary depending on the company's strategic intent and the specific category's role, a number of principles hold generally true:

• internally, demand management requires true cross-functional working, be it within manufacturers or retailers;
• joint demand management requires a new type of interface structure between manufacturers and retailers; and
• personal and category performance measures need to be re-aligned from narrow functional criteria to measures which focus on the category's profitability from an end-to-end supply chain perspective.

The scorecard looks at the evolution of internal and joint strategy development.