Teoretyczne tło efektu byczego bicza (ang. bullwhip effect) zostało zbadane po raz pierwszy przez Jay’a Forrester’a w latach 60-tych w USA. W swoich pracach zajmował się on zachowaniami w łańcuchach dostaw, przy różnych zapotrzebowaniach i z nich wynikających wahań. W latach 90-tych firma Procter & Gamble jako pierwsza przebadała ten efekt dokładniej na przykładzie pieluch Pampers.

This effect manifests itself in the fact that retail end-customer demand is constant, however, order volumes become more and more irregular the farther back we move in the supply chain. In this way, orders at the lowest levels bear no relation to consumer orders.

The consequences of such an effect are matched inventories adjusted to different order quantities, and consequently increased warehouse inventories. This leads to increased warehousing costs and capital freeze costs, which lead to increased final prices and worsened competitiveness. The company's goal is to reduce the bullwhip effect.

This effect can be created by the following actions:

Due to the fixed costs of ordering, companies combine their orders (by Andler's formula) and thus optimize the quantity. Because of this, orders become more and more irregular and there are fluctuations in suppliers - a bull whip effect is created.

Thanks to advertising campaigns (discounts, rebates), the prices of products are reduced in a short time and customers then fill their warehouses. With price increases, they cancel their orders and take products out of stock. This also puts up a bull whip effect.

If there are bottlenecks customers order more to cover at least their needs. As soon as they have enough goods in stock, they cancel orders. This in turn leads to more inventory in the supply chain. By improving communication and cooperation between companies, the bullwhip effect can be minimized so that logistics costs are reduced and customer satisfaction is increased.

RELATED TERMS

• Andler's formula

• ECR - Efficient Consumer Response