Mitigating the Bullwhip Effect with eWord of Mouth: eBusiness Intelligence Perspective

Abstract

Whereas the bullwhip effect is a phenomenon strictly related to supply chain management and regards the magnification and variance in order volumes observed at upstream nodes in a supply chain, the eWOM refers to the knowledge exchange which consumers carry out online, known as online rating or review systems. It delivers credible and relevant product information to potential customers and thus can significantly impact the consumer choices. EWOM as a Social Mediated Monitoring (SMM) technique, when combined with web analytics and predictive modeling, will have potential to generate probabilistic information. EWOM is trying to upgrade its portfolio as an effective alternate to brand communication media in the Internet supported business environment. This study aims to explore the influence of electronic Word Of Mouth (eWOM) with the actual adoption of internet technologies in influencing customer demand in the enterprise supply chain management scenario as well as how it influences demand uncertainty that can cause bullwhip effect. The research methodology follows a qualitative method of eliciting literature evidences, correlations and manifestations through reviews, available surveys and brief on example case findings. We conclude that by integrating Business Intelligence and web analytics, organizations can derive better customer demand information and Key Performance Indicator along the Supply chain so that it can be used to mitigate the Bullwhip effect. But providing decision management capability under Multi-Enterprise Collaboration requires the integrated effort of end-to-end solutions to enable collaborative enterprise information sharing capability with visibility and quality customer demand information.

Using Machine Learning for Enhancing the Understanding of Bullwhip Effect in the Oil and Gas Industry

“…Lee et al concluded that it is challenging to reach agreements between the parties in the supply chain to implement the bullwhip mitigation solutions in order to improve the overall performance [10,21,27]. Although companies should focus their strategies on cooperation and supply chain synchronization [28,29], since information sharing is regarded as the main principle to prevent this effect [12,[30][31][32][33][34][35], the managers tend to be hesitant regarding collaborative programs [36]. Thus, the quantity and quality of shared information remains low.…”

Internet of Things: A Hypothetical and Prototyping Platform for CRASP Methodology

“…CRASP methodology is an effort of Conceptual Creativity. According to [7], creativity may be considered a product and a process and is typically considered the product of valuable answers to difficulties or innovative and efficient concepts. Further, [28] cited that when an idea has novelty but it lacks value proposition and effectiveness to other individuals, it could not be considered "creative" in passing to [17].…”

Turning Customer Insights Contributing to VMI Based Decision Support System in Demand Chain Management

“…Therefore eWOM as a social mediated monitoring tools when combined with web analytics and predictive modelling will have potential to generate probabilistic information to upgrade its portfolio as an effective alternate to brand communication. In addition it is possible to make vendor consolidation and deal with customer demand fulfilment in a multi-enterprise collaboration based supply chain management scenario explicitly as in [16]. Demand information aggregation is considered as one of the important strategies for reducing bullwhip effect.…”