Alleviating the bullwhip effect in supply chain management using the multi-agent approach: an empirical study

Abstract

Supply chain management critically affects businesses' abilities to obtain and sustain competitive advantages. This paper presents a systematic approach to tackle the issue of the bullwhip effect in supply chain management. First, we proposed a multi-agent supply chain framework and compare it with the traditional sequential supply chain framework. Secondly, we hypothesise that the multi-agent supply chain framework would be more effective in alleviating the bullwhip effect than the sequential supply chain framework. Finally, we describe a case study that was conducted to test the proposed hypothesis. The findings suggested the multi-agent supply chain framework outperformed the sequential supply chain in alleviating the bullwhip effect. Supply chain management critically affects businesses' abilities to obtain and sustain competitive advantages. This paper presents a systematic approach to tackle the issue of the bullwhip effect in supply chain management. First, we proposed a multi-agent supply chain framework and compare it with the traditional sequential supply chain framework. Secondly, we hypothesise that the multi-agent supply chain framework would be more effective in alleviating the bullwhip effect than the sequential supply chain framework. Finally, we describe a case study that was conducted to test the proposed hypothesis. The findings suggested the multi-agent supply chain framework outperformed the sequential supply chain in alleviating the bullwhip effect.