Supply chain decision making: Will shorter cycle times and shared point-of-sale information necessarily help?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Steckel, JH; Gupta, S; Banerji, A
• 署名单位: New York University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1030.0169
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 458-464
• 关键词: Supply chain; beer game; Bullwhip Effect; quick response systems; experiments

摘要

Using a simulated supply chain experiment based on the well-known beer game, we examine how changes in order and delivery cycles, availability of shared point-of-sale (POS) information, and the pattern of customer demand affect supply chain efficiency. We find that speeding up cycle time is beneficial, but the sharing of POS information is not necessarily so. Whether or not the sharing of POS information is beneficial depends on the nature of the demand pattern represented by the POS information. If the demand pattern conveys continual change in ultimate downstream customer demand (as does an S-shaped demand pattern), the POS information can distract the upstream decision maker from what is perhaps more immediately relevant information, orders placed by the proximate downstream agent and the supply line.