Barb Schultze

Private Equity is feeling the pressure on PortCo financing and targeted exits. Concurrent macroeconomic disruptive forces have intensified the pressure on portco operations and performance, as an elevated inflationary and interest rate environment – allied to persistent supply chain challenges – create highly constrained trading conditions.

Click here to watch the video. At a time when volatility in supply and demand is hitting bottom lines hard and trading conditions are cause for very real concern amongst PE firms, S&OP has never been more important. AlixPartners’ Michael Andrews is joined by the firm’s S&OP experts Douglas McIvor, Tony Reynolds, and Barb Schulze to explore why this has become such a vital lever for Private Equity to pull within their portfolios. Businesses have long had to cope with the impact of business cycles.

Summary. Managers tend to think about liquidity as a finance issue, but in face the behaviors of the sales and operations team — and how they communicate and work together — can have a direct affect on a company's cash position. To improve this working relationship, focus on aligning the teams, improving the quality of forecasts, map forecasts to the supply chain, and optimize for profitability rather than predictability.