IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ijisma/v3y2007i1p86-102.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Bullwhip effect – complexity in theory and in a real-life application

Author

Listed:
  • Kaj-Mikael Bjork
  • Annukka Hejazi
  • Christer Carlsson

Abstract

Since the articles of Lee et al. (1997a, b), there have been many publications that explain the causes of the Bullwhip effect. The countermeasures proposed are often motivated by mathematical models, in which different assumptions are made to simplify the complexity of the real world. How well do the theory contributions support a supply chain manager, who wants to reduce the Bullwhip effect? Even if the Bullwhip effect is addressed in many articles, it is not straightforward to draw the right conclusions and to find answers to real-life problems from the somewhat theoretical papers in this field. Some problem areas that need to be addressed are how to measure the Bullwhip effect and how the assumptions in the Bullwhip literature often create a gap between the problems found in real-life supply chains and the theoretical solutions. This paper highlights this gap with an example from a Finnish fine paper distributor.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaj-Mikael Bjork & Annukka Hejazi & Christer Carlsson, 2007. "The Bullwhip effect – complexity in theory and in a real-life application," International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 3(1), pages 86-102.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijisma:v:3:y:2007:i:1:p:86-102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=11451
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ids:ijisma:v:3:y:2007:i:1:p:86-102. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=81 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.