Serial versus divergent supply chain networks: a comparative analysis of the bullwhip effect

The amplification of demand variation in a supply chain network (SCN) is a well-known phenomenon called the bullwhip effect, which creates inefficiencies due to high variation in the order quantities placed between companies, leading to a flow of a larger number of units than the actual need, increa...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Domínguez Cañizares, Roberto, Framiñán Torres, José Manuel, Cannella, Salvatore
Format: article
Status:Versión aceptada para publicación
Publication Date:2014
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repository:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/102665
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/102665
https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2013.860495
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Bullwhip Effect
Serial Supply Chain
Divergent Supply Chain
Description
Summary:The amplification of demand variation in a supply chain network (SCN) is a well-known phenomenon called the bullwhip effect, which creates inefficiencies due to high variation in the order quantities placed between companies, leading to a flow of a larger number of units than the actual need, increasing stock and generating stock-outs. Since this phenomenon has been recognised as one of the main obstacles for improving SCN performance, recently it has received a lot of attention by SCN managers and researchers. One of the most common simplifying assumptions in the literature is to assume that the SCN adopts a serial structure. The present work addresses a comparative analysis of the bullwhip effect between a serial SCN and a more complex divergent SCN. To do so, we analyse the response of both SCNs under two different input demands: a stationary demand and an impulse demand. The results reveal that there are not significant differences in terms of bullwhip effect between both SCNs for a stationary demand. Nevertheless, we show how for a violent disturbance in customer demand there is a great different between the two SCNs.