Consider a 3 firm supply chain consisting of a retailer, manufacturer, and a supplier. The retailers demand over an 8 week period was 100 units each of the first 2 weeks, 200 units each of the second 2 weeks, 300 units each of the third 2 weeks, and 400 units each of the fourth 2 weeks. The following table shows the orders placed by each firm in the supply chain. Notice that the total units are the same in each case, but firms further up (away from the retailer) place larger, less frequent orders.
WEEK RETAILER MANUFACTURER SUPPLIER
1 100 200 600
2 100
3 200 400
4 200
5 300 600 1400
6 300
7 400 800
8 400
a. What is the bullwhip measure for the retailer?
b. What is the bullwhip measure for the manufacturer?
c. What is the bullwhip measure for the supplier?
d. What conclusions can you draw regarding the impact that economies of scale may have on the bullwhip effect?