Question A4

(a) Bullwhip effect was first found in Procter & Gamble (P&G) supply chain in the inventory management of baby diapers. It is known that order size variability is amplified as orders move upstream in the supply chain from the retailer up to the manufacturer such as 3M. This phenomenon also occurs in different industries such as fashion industry, electronic industry etc. Identify and explain FOUR ways on how the information ability improves the bullwhip effect in the supply chain management.

(b) Explain FOUR "harms" brought by the bullwhip effect. Support each one of your arguments with an example.