Manugistics Acquired By JDA - Supply Chain Blunder or Firesale Win?

JDA Software, a specialist in retail-facing e-business applications, is acquiring Manugistics for $211 million.

Supply chain vendor, Manugistics, had been floundering for the last few years and it's not a surprise that it was finally acquired. Having seen success during the dot.com boom as one of the top best-of-breed supply chain players, Manugistics joined the likes of i2 when the SCM market matured and demand for manufacturing software was tapped out. As SAP and other behemoths entered the market with a best-of-suite option (as well as bundled APO with SAP ERP purchases), SCM specialty vendors found it increasingly difficult to compete.

Manugistics then attempted to expand its value proposition to encompass demand chain management, offering profit and revenue optimization solutions to retailers, CPG, high-tech, and hospitality and travel companies. The company was unable to establish a new market for itself in PRO, despite the promising ROI it offered customers.

At some point, Manugistics was going to be an acquisition target but who would buy them given the maturity of the SCM market? What is surprising is that JDA stepped in. While it makes sense that retail, wholesale distribution, and CPG manufacturing is covered by the combination of JDA and Manugistics -- targeting a demand chain strategy, it is unlikely that JDA will succeed in entering manufacturing. This definitely opens the door for SAP. The crux of Manugistics' installed base is CPG manufacturers that have a SAP R/3 and Manugistics SCM landscape. Converting these customers to all SAP is a likely scenario.

What does JDA get then? Well, besides SCM - which I think is a non-starter, JDA gets Manugistics' transportation management (TMS) solution - which is known to be the best software in its category. This could benefit JDA's retail customer base. Also, Manugistics' PRO capabilities could help JDA with retail price optimization - an area that SAP now owns with its Khimetrics acquisition and Oracle owns with its ProfitLogic plus Retek combination.

However, all in all, what JDA gets is a SCM company that has already seen its best days and despite getting the company on the cheap, JDA has likely made a supply chain blunder.