Verified Document

Bullwhip Effect Case Study

Bullwhip effect is a theory that the farther a company gets away from the customer, the more variable the demand is. This makes no sense -- it's like saying the more stocks you have in your portfolio the more volatile it will be. What happens is not a bullwhip at all. Look -- a 5% change in demand is a 5% change in demand up the entire stream. If the front-line retailer is in line with the industry change, then that means everybody in the industry is going to see a 5% change in demand. The raw number change in demand up the supply chain is bigger, but it's still the same percentage. The producer is a bigger company to begin with, so it is equipped to handle this change to the same degree that the retailer is. Furthermore, if the 5% change at the retailer level includes some component that is specific to that one retailer, than the industry change is going to be much less than 5% - in other words less volatile. Diversification decrease volatility, because you have to look at this on a percentage basis. Looking at raw numbers, when the producer is operating at a much larger scale than the individual retailer, makes no sense. Indeed, a quick look at the explanation for the bullwhip effect tells me that it is a fiction. The following can contribute to the bullwhip effect: overreaction to backlogs, neglecting to order in an attempt to reduce inventory, no communication up and down the supply chain, delay times for information and material flow (QuickMBA, 2010). If these are the causes, then these are the causes. It...

The terminology and definition of bullwhip effect pins the blame on the change in demand when clearly it is the inventory management practices, and not the change in demand, that create this effect.
Now, vendor managed inventory can be a solution to this "bullwhip effect" if it addresses the causes. If we take at face value that change in demand is the cause, VMI does not affect that. Looking at the other causes, they relate mostly to lousy communication and mismanaged inventory policy. VMI is, if nothing else, a consistent system. The retailer provides information to the vendor, and it is the job of the vendor to manage the inventory level of the retailer. This technique is used in some fairly large companies -- a lot of grocery store distributors take this responsibility. Pepsi uses this to manage its deliveries to stores -- the reps are responsible for maintaining inventory levels, based on the demand information provided to them.

The issue with VMI is that it places the onus on managing the inventory on the vendor, which means you have to trust the vendor. If I run a convenience store, I trust Pepsi to keep my fridge full. I might trust some of my other major suppliers as well. These are well-run companies with a global track record of executing this type of system. But I do not trust any company that does not run a VMI system. If that is not what they do, then they will…

Sources used in this document:
References

QuickMBA. (2010). The Bullwhip Effect. QuickMBA. Retrieved May 22, 2014 from http://www.quickmba.com/ops/bullwhip-effect/

Ravichandran, N. (2008). Managing Bullwhip Effect: Two Case Studies, Journal of Advances in Management Research, Vol. 5(II).
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Bullwhip Effect: What Causes It and Using
Words: 986 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Bullwhip Effect: What causes it and using ECR and VMI to counteract its effects "The bullwhip effect occurs when the demand order variabilities in the supply chain are amplified as they moved up the supply chain" (Lee, Padmanabhan & Wang 1997). The bullwhip effect could be characterized as a kind of a gigantic game of 'telephone,' in which the first message becomes distorted in the retelling, and subsequent transmissions of the information

Analyzing CPR Model and Bullwhip Effect
Words: 1285 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

CPR Model and Bullwhip Effect CPFR (Collaborative Planning, Replenishment, and Forecasting) is a growingly applied business practice aiming to lower supply chain spending through the promotion of increased cooperation, integration, and visibility between supply chains of trading partners. The phrase "trading partner" is applicable to nearly all combinations (inter, as well as intra) of manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, or distributors. CPFR itself represents an extension of older collaboration efforts such as just-in-time

Mitigating the Bullwhip Effect
Words: 621 Length: 2 Document Type: Case Study

absence of it, help to create the bull-whip effect? What feedback would you like to have, specifically, as you determine your weekly orders for Kentucky Swamp Brew? How would get such information? When would you like to have it? "As beer consumers develop a taste for more refined small-batch brews, the craft beer industry is steadily growing, and so is the need for beer supply chain management solutions" (Skrbek 2014)

Supply Chain Simulation
Words: 1385 Length: 4 Document Type: Case Study

ordering strategy is fairly simple, and this is why there were seldom backlogs. Basically, what you want to do is understand the baseline demand. In the real world, we would probably already have this data, but in the simulation we needed to figure that out. So most of the order backlogs occurred initially, and during promotion, when nobody was really certain of demand. Once it was established that demand

Bwe in Business, One of the Most
Words: 1052 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

BWE In business, one of the most challenging issues is what is known as the Bullwhip Effect (BWE) in the supply chain. This effect means that any demand forecast attempt cannot be accurate, since it is based on potentially inaccurate data. According to Ravichandran (2008), BWE refers to a distortion in the demand forecast related to a noise factor. The demand is therefore inflated and leads to an increase in fixed

Root Beer Simulation in This
Words: 743 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

In that situation, I could get a much better idea of when I could expect the backlog to clear and why the supplier was unable to meet my order requirements. I could also have used that information to convey to my customer my expectations of when I would be able to fulfill their orders. Having this ability to extract information would be very helpful. "While one strategy may work

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now