Who typically “owns” the S&OP process?
Ideally it should be the CEO. Even if the CEO does not attend an executive S&OP meeting, as sometimes occurs in very large companies, the CEO should be supportive and insistent that the process be maintained and executed well, since it can have such a dramatic effect on achieving business objectives. But some companies appoint an “owner”, who isn’t a senior executive, but rather a management level person whose job it is to ensure that the process is followed, does not degrade, and ideally is constantly improving. This person could be from any function, but often comes from manufacturing planning or marketing, since those functions play the largest role and have the greatest stake in a good S&OP process.
