Understanding Bullwhip Effects in Vegetable and Fish Supply Chain and Providing Sustainable Marketing Solutions

Abstract

The supply chain design plays a key role in product availability in normal operations. The process of availability of stock level in running a business is necessary to attract and retain customers. The components or the channel partners in supply chain are responsible for calculating forecasted demand for the products. The overestimation as well as underestimation of the forecasted demand by each channel partners in the supply chain may result in the phenomenon of bullwhip effect in the supply chain. Vegetable, fish, and meat supply chains, which are the highly perishable products of daily life use, are to some extent different from that of the non-perishable products’ supply chains. Thus, the channel partners involved in the supply chain of vegetable, fish, and meat also forecast the different stock levels of the respective categories. In some cases, there are excess or shortfall in the availability of such items. This study attempts to comprehend and emphasize the phenomenon of the bullwhip effect in the category of fish and vegetable supply chain. The study further assesses the underlying factors responsible for the bullwhip effect. The study concludes with major suggestions for eliminating such bullwhip effect.