The authors analyze the bullwhip effect in multistage, decentralized supply chains operated with linear and time-invariant inventory management policies; the focus is on robustness. The supply chain is modeled as a single-input, single-output control system driven by arbitrary customer demands....

This paper shows how to reduce the bullwhip effect by introducing advance demand information (ADI) into the ordering schemes of supply chains. It quantifies the potential costs and benefits of ADI, and demonstrates that they are not evenly distributed across the chain. Therefore, market-based...