An investigation into what companies are doing to ensure they have continuity of supply on the correct aged stocks of spirit, into the longer term, as the global demand for Scotch whisky continues to grow.

Abstract

The research conducted in this study investigates the core process that are implemented at leading spirit organisations to ensure to continuity of corrected aged spirit. There was little literature on the topic, however, there was literature on the increasing growth of Scotch whisky and the decreasing stock levels in the industry, building the coherent argument. 3 semi-structured interviews were conducted with industry experts who specialised in the supply chain and forecasting teams. The method was selected due to the exploratory nature of the research and time constraints acting against the researcher. The researcher used thematic analysis to identify emerging themes from the collected data. The results revealed that the organisation use a similar approach to forecasting, however, did implement the strategy differently. Concerns were raised about the challenge the industry were facing with the ever-growing demand, however, it was expressed that the industry is happy to face such a challenge. Should the research be explored further, recommendations would be to explore the opinion of forecasting from other organisation functions, such as marketing and sales.