The Film The Lost Honor Of Katharina Blum - 1324 Words

The German films The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, directed by Dir. Volker Schlondorff and Margarethe von Trotta in 1975 and The Marriage of Maria Braun, directed by Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder in 1979 both display issues with gender equality. In The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, Katharina shares a night with a wanted man and she falls in love with him. She is harassed by the police and the press when she tells them that she had no part in helping Ludwig GÃ ¶tten, the wanted terrorist, escape. Katharina is an example of how women were victimized at this time by establishments run by primarily men, like the police. In The Marriage of Maria Braun, Maria’s husband, Herman, is sent off to battle. After hearing the announced death of her husband, and experiencing his arrival soon after, Herman is put into prison and Maria promises Herman a life together once he is released. Against the gender roles present during this time period, Maria works to attain wealth to fulfill her prom ise. Though each film presents it differently, both display set gender roles which provide expectations and issues that Katharina and Maria effectively overcome. Katharina stands firm, refusing to allow any of the men to control her or to break her through victimization and harassment. And Maria adapts her femininity in order to exceed the social, political and cultural expectations set for women. Men play significant roles in both films, they have a major influence on Katharina and Maria, and they are

Hunting and Its Benefits Free Essays

Hunting and Its benefits Specific Purpose: By the end of this speech I expect all of you to feel more informed on how regulated and legal hunting has a positive influence on wildlife, the environment and, the economy. Thesis: Regulated hunting largely has positive effects on the economy and the environment I. Imagine yourself hiking through the woods, fishing or swimming in a lake, or even just enjoying nature. We will write a custom essay sample on Hunting and Its Benefits or any similar topic only for you Order Now Guess how it was possible to build and maintain all of those nature areas and parks. From HUNTING!!! II. Even though I’m sure most of you aren’t hunters (maybe even a few anti-hunters), I’m more than certain most of you appreciate nature and the best places to enjoy nature are on state and national parks, lakes, streams, trails, and conservation areas. The sale of hunting licenses and equipment are responsible for a significantly large chunk of that funding and make it possible for everybody to experience the beauty of nature. III. Living in the Midwest im sure most of you are some type of outdoorsman or live within a short distance of rural area where most nature areas are and I intend to show how hunting affects those areas and the economy. IV. I’m a lifelong outdoorsman and I’ve seen and experienced first hand how hunting has created thousands of jobs and saved and restored countless acres of wetlands, forests, and plains. V. I have three main points to discuss in this speech I. Hunting makes a large contribution to the economy II. Hunting is the single biggest funder of conservation and restoration efforts III. Regulated Hunting has a positive impact on wildlife populations The first point I’m going to discuss deals with the jobs and business hunting is responsible for. I. The sale of hunting licenses and equipment puts over 12 billion dollars in the economy annually. . On average, each hunter spends about $1896 which is 5. 5 percent of the average man’s income. b. This maintains almost 575,000 jobs which contribute even more money from income and sales tax i. About a quarter of these jobs are solely supported by hunting. ii. The 2. 4 billion dollar income tax of these jobs can cover the an nual paychecks over 100000 troops. This generation of revenue also goes to support the environment for the animals pursued thrive. II. The sale of hunting licenses and equipment is also the single largest source of funding for the conservation and restoration of natural areas a. Hunters provide over 2 billion dollars to conservation through the sale of hunting equipment and licenses. b. Hunters are a larger source of funding than environmentalists, state grants, and animal rights organizations combined This also leads to a positive influence on the populations of wildlife III. Regulated Hunting helps keeps wildlife numbers in check and populations stable. a. Hunting prevents animal species from overpopulating i. By harvesting certain numbers of an animal every year the population does not grow beyond control ii. This also helps prevent them from moving into urban areas where they can become nuisances b. Hunting also keeps animal populations healthy by keeping the number of animals down to what the food supply can support Overall regulated hunting is a wholesome sport that makes positive contributions to the economy and the environment I. Summary a. Hunting is a strong contributor to the economy and is vital to hundreds of thousands of jobs b. Hunting provides essential funding to help ensure that nature areas remain for future generations to enjoy c. Regulated hunting helps keep animal populations healthy and stable through responsible management and ethical sportsmen II. These main points I have presented to you in the hopes I have left you better informed on hunting and is benefits. Bibliography â€Å"There Are 11,085 Hunters/Sportsmen Supporting Hunters Against PETA. Enter Your Name and Email to Join Our Cause. Thanks for Your Support! †Ã‚  Hunters Against PETA. N. p. , 01 Feb. 2009. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. http://www. huntersagainstpeta. com/. ConservationHunting. html. †Ã‚  ConservationHunting. html. N. p. , Feb. -Mar. 2007. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. http://www. duke. edu/web/nicholas/bio217/spring2010/denardo/ConservationHunting. htm. How to cite Hunting and Its Benefits, Essay examples

Digital Marketer Model Communication Industries †MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Digital Marketer Model Communication Industries. Answer: Introduction The background of the business proposal includes the planning of the business that needs to be done in order to make the following business a successful one. The following business proposal includes the planning of the development of the strategies of communications that are required in a business. The topic of the report is the analysis of the problems related to the strategy and the effective solution of the strategies of communication. It includes the pricing strategy and the solution of the strategy. The purpose of the report is to evaluate the effective methodology that is proved to be effective. The persons who gets affected because of this are the customers who seeks to use the products from the organizations. The intended audience of this report is the people who depend on the digital communication process. The individuals who depend on the tele-communication or who all the regular tele-communication users are the main intended audience of the report. The organization that has been taken for this particular report is Etisalat communications, a leading digital communication organization of UAE. The organization deals with the tele-communication. They provide service to the Africa and West-Asia. It has the head quarters in Abu Dhabi and it is one of the leading service providers of internet. The types of communication strategy to develop the organization are the strategy of spreading the communication into the world, it includes the strategy of inspiration, and it includes engagement, connection and the strategy to nurture. Types of communication strategy The types of communication strategy that are used in the report are the strategy of spreading the world, to inspire, to engage, to connect and to nurture. The biggest challenge faced by the digital communication in the organizations is the gap that is created in the internal organizations. The biggest challenge is the finding of the right style, the fault that is there in the leaders who are supposed to lead the digital organization. The other problem apart from this is the use of multiple platforms and multiplies success. The major problem is the formulation of the proper strategy. The solution includes the designing of the training programs that should be lend to the employees which is required for the smooth running of the business. The digital communication process includes high pricing. The business is done in the global scale and therefore the e-process is required to expand business in a global scale. The communication is done in the global aspect and it is important to be technologically advanced. Therefore, the business needs to arrange for all the highly advanced technological applications and the employees should be trained about the technological use. The problem can be solved through lending proper training to the employees to treat the issues in the global scale. The other way to solve the problem is to provide training in the field of e-learning. The training includes the technological training and the communication skill training. The formulation of training strategies should be done and the schedule of the training should be formulated. These are the most effective method. The conclusion of the report will include the analysis of the digital communication and the improvement the organization is required to make in order to improve the strategy that are related to the development of the strategies in order to attract more customers and satisfy them with their services. The organization must come up with proper advertisement strategies and proper marketing strategies. The pricing strategy should be well designed and it should be properly executed. A weekly budget should be prepared in order to sort the pricing issues of the business. Apart from this the business organizations should concentrate on the development of the internal and the external factors of the organization. It is important for all the business organizations to focus on the PESTEL and the SWOT analysis. The companies should provide the best standards of care and support for the people who are using the services of the company. Identification of the stakeholders is another aspect that should be kept in mind of the organizations. The work plan should be well evaluated and it should be well executed. The final recommendation of the communication strategy includes the formulation of the marketing plan. It includes the analysis of the operating environment and should focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the products so that the customers can be satisfied. The communication strategy includes the design to help the customers and the organization in order to communicate effectively and meet the objectives of the organization. The key elements of the communication strategy are looked upon in the report and have been widely discussed. The objective of the report is to analyze the evaluation of the PR plans, the web strategies and the marketing strategies that are supposed to be a major part of the organization and the overall communication strategy of the organization. According to Viterbi and Omura (2013), the organization must organize the channels for connecting to the customers. The organization must adapt the most appropriate channels for communicating with the customers. These include the ways like the e-bulletin, conference, workshop, leaflets, press releases and events (Miritello, et al., 2013). It has much broader way of communication like the use of media and website. There are various pitfalls of the process. The loopholes lie in the channels which usually varies depending upon the needs and the resources of the organizations. The evaluation of the internal factors of the channels should be done in order to construct the communication system with the other customers (Markman, 2015). However considering the communication method this can be argued that the method of key communications is an effective working plan to reduce the budget and formulate effective communication activities and the allocation of the resources in order to deliver the right and effective strategy (Ng, et al., 2017). The plan should be well structured and t should be well organized. It should include the proposed timescale and it should be able to identify particular milestones within the strategy. This would lead to calculate measurable steps towards the final goal (Li, et al., 2015). From the above discussion it can be stated that there has been many loopholes in the communication process which is not effective. The rectifications include the development in communication strategy which must include an effective process of evaluation. It is extremely important for the leaders of the organization to know the time period when the goal has been achieved (Pereira, 2015) which is not maintained in maximum cases. The tools that are not clear should be made clear in such case where it is required to apply. This includes the simple measures which are the measures like the e-bulletins that hit the websites (Herring, Stein Virtanen, 2013). The measure of media coverage is another tool that can prove to be an effective step towards success (Royle Laing, 2014). The digital strategy of Etisalat communications include the way the organization can build the online presence for itself. The organization must have a website (Niu, et al., 2014). In order to gain success it is impo rtant to utilize the social media. It includes the running of the online campaigns and the identification of the resources and the process of controlling web marketing. The social media is essentially important in order to develop the web strategy (Ginis, et al., 2015). Apart from the above criticism it is important to note that there should be a strong and effective marketing plan in order to have a successful plan to have a successful digital communication organization (Pfeffermann Gould, 2017). The organization must focus on the operating environment and must look at the strengths and the weaknesses of the organization and should evaluate the methods that must be used to take the service in the market (Coetzee, et al., 2014). Conclusion Therefore, while concluding the report it can be mentioned that the digital communication technologies in the past years have explored the global company. All the organization of the present world is shifting their attention towards social media platforms. The mentioned organization deals with the digital sector therefore it is important for them to focus on the improvement of the application of the technology and the digital service. The shift to digital communication has brought a tremendous change in the thought process of the common people. From the above analysis it can be stated that the digital sector makes work easier and it makes work faster. It makes the system fabricated and it makes the people to keep a touch with the organizations directly. Therefore, it is important to form strategies regarding the digital communication. The digital communication strategy includes the effective development of the organization which in turn includes the increase in the revenue of the com pany as all the companies uses the social media platforms to increase their business. With the new pillars of media and new landscape the business communications have turned into digital sector. In order to survive in the competitive market the organization must adopt a well structured digital strategy. Recommendations The organization must invest in both staff time and capacity in the effective engagement using the platforms of digital communications. It is necessary for the organization to establish clear integral guidelines and engagement policies. The organization must empower the staff to communicate most often in an enthusiastic and transparent manner. It is recommended for the company to establish clear goals and gather relevant metrics in order to tune the effectiveness of the communication strategy. The organizations must prioritize the use of the digital communication platforms in order to engage, educate and gain the insights from the customers. It is advisable for the company to allow the creative idea and experimentation as the emergence of the new platforms and new technologies occur. References Coetzee, D., Fox, A., Hearst, M.A. Hartmann, B., (2014), March. Chatrooms in MOOCs: all talk and no action. InProceedings of the first ACM conference on Learning@ scale conference(pp. 127-136). ACM. Ginis, G., Yu, W., Zeng, C., Cioffi, J. M. (2015).U.S. Patent No. 9,160,385. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Herring, S., Stein, D., Virtanen, T. (Eds.). (2013).Pragmatics of computer-mediated communication(Vol. 9). Walter de Gruyter. Li, H., Liao, X., Chen, G., Hill, D. J., Dong, Z., Huang, T. (2015). Event-triggered asynchronous intermittent communication strategy for synchronization in complex dynamical networks.Neural Networks,66, 1-10. Markman, K. M. (2015).Utterance chunking in instant messaging: A resource for interaction management(pp. 61-79). Hampshire, England: Palgrave Macmillan. Miritello, G., Moro, E., Lara, R., Martnez-Lpez, R., Belchamber, J., Roberts, S. G., Dunbar, R. I. (2013). Time as a limited resource: Communication strategy in mobile phone networks.Social Networks,35(1), 89-95. Ng, r. Y. K., lam, r. Y. S., ng, k. K., lai, i. K. W. (2017). Identifying the Needs of Flexible and Technology Enhanced Learning in Vocational and Professional Education and Trainings (VPET) Workplaces. InNew Ecology for EducationCommunication X Learning(pp. 107-117). Springer, Singapore. Niu, Y., Ho, D. W. (2014). Control strategy with adaptive quantizers parameters under digital communication channels.Automatica,50(10), 2665-2671. Pereira, D. E. R. (2015).A digital communication strategy for Kiehls: Humanize an online engagement(Doctoral dissertation). Pfeffermann, N., Gould, J. (Eds.). (2017).Strategy and Communication for Innovation: Integrative Perspectives on Innovation in the Digital Economy. Springer. Royle, J., Laing, A. (2014). The digital marketing skills gap: Developing a Digital Marketer Model for the communication industries.International Journal of Information Management,34(2), 65-73. Viterbi, A. J., Omura, J. K. (2013).Principles of digital communication and coding. Courier Corporation.

Racism Essays (928 words) - Discrimination, Hatred, Racism

Racism English 4 Mrs. Simmons Throughout my life I have usually been on the receiving end of racist comments. In eighth grade I had to go to a public school because of moving reasons, and that is where the comments started. I could honestly say that it was the worst experience in my life. Their were only two oriental kids in my class, I was one of them. The other kid was also Korean, but the catch there was that he was a well known football player. I also played football, but I wasn't the all-pro quarter back. Since he was so good and so well know no one ever said a word to him. The first day at Richland(the name of the school which I went to) everyone was nice to me. The first couple days were great ; Everyone was so friendly and willing to accept me. Going into the second week I met this girl Amber, she was beautiful. I was sitting at the lunch table one day and she walked by and I commented on how hot she was. One kid, who I thought was my friend, said, "Since you are new here, I will let that go." I responded, "What do you mean?" Chad said, "I like Amber also, and whoever I like no one tries stepping in, do you understand?" "Whatever dude...", I said. Chad said, "Now Page 2 listen, I like you and it is better off that way." So naturally I did what I wanted to do, I asked Amber for her number. That weekend Amber and I went out on a date. I sure did have a good time. That following Monday, Chad heard about the date and flipped out. Just after second period I heard someone yell, "HEY CHINK, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!!!!" I sort of had an idea who said it, but I just ignored it and kept walking. A second later someone pushes me to the floor. I turned around and Chad was standing there. Chad said, "I warned you, you slanted eye piece of shit." I naturally backed off because it wasn't worth fighting about. From that point on everyone considered me the "Wimp who can't stand up for himself." For the rest of the year my life was a living hell. The only time anyone talked to me is when someone would make a racist comment. Half way through football season I quit because I was treated like crap from my fellow football members and coach. Later on that year a kid named Matt Flynn made a racial comment. I was in such a bad mood so I punched him in the face. The fight was broken up right away, and we were both sent to the principal's office. When we got there, I was the one that was punished and Matt was left off with no punishment. I found out later that week that the principal was racist against Asian people. I had no idea what to do, so I just left it go and Page 3 told no one. Both my parents and the school guidance counselor noticed that I was having some problems. I refused to tell anyone what was a matter, and I told everyone just to leave me alone. That was the first time that I ever contemplated suicide. I felt like I was the most worthless thing in the world. I didn't know what to do. I was not only having problems in school, I was also having family problems. I heard my parents say things about me that I thought I would never hear in my life. Later that night I sat in my room with my dad's 357 pistol. The gun was loaded and I contemplated why should I not kill myself, I had every reason to. Then I started thinking about who in my life really cared. Memories of my father and I going hunting, the good times my cousin Greg and I had together, and the things that my two brothers, Ben and Dave, have done for me. About a month later, I looked at everyone that pick on me. I noticed that the kids, I went to school with at Richland, were totally ignorant about racism. The kids at Richland were never taught what discrimination could do to someone, mentally and physically. In the world today, their are a variety of stereotypes put on all races. Ignorance is the origin of these stereotypes. Kids today should be educated

Alien and Sedition Acts essays

Alien and Sedition Acts essays The debate over the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 unraveled bitter disagreements on a number of separate issues. While these acts seemed to be very undemocratic in the sense that it pretty much discriminated against a citizen not born in America, but it is vital to realize the struggles and hardships young America was undergoing as a fledgling nation. When debating over the Alien and Sedation Acts, one must be able to comprehend the foreign affairs in which America was involved. The United States was caught up in the French Revolution and also the XYZ Affair, both quite dangerous to the existence of the country. These acts were very controversial and developed for a reason. One can look at the Alien and Sedation Acts from numerous perspectives. In Notes on Virginia, Thomas Jefferson can be quoted as saying "we are to expect the greatest number of emigrants. They will bring with them the principals of the governments they leave...with their language...they will share with us the ! legislation...and bias directions. At the time, the US was receiving a mad dash of immigrants and many, like Jefferson, were worried. They were worried that some immigrants would bring some radical political views to America and upset balance of society. They did not want America turning into a theocracy or a monarchy. With an infiltration of non-democratic ideology, one can see why the Alien and Sedation Laws were such a big deal at the time. The leaders of our country felt the need to crush any political beliefs that were non-democratic for the good of the Union. Otherwise, the country was in danger of going into a frenzy. This urgency to quell political differences can be seen again in Hamiltons draft of Washingtons Farewell Address, there is another (cause) which it is necessary to be on our guard; I mean the petulance of party differences of opinion. From this viewpoint one could view the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 a...

Brief to Validate Part1 and Part2 in Uk

UK qualifications and Overseas qualifications ARB does not directly recognise any qualifications from outside the United Kingdom, so I need to pass the Board’s own Prescribed Examination at the relevant level if I wish to progress towards registering as an architect in the UK. Examinations normally run every three months on the first Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in January, April, July, and October. Before dates for the examination are set, I must submit: a completed application form with the prescribed material to confirm eligibility (certificates, transcripts information about the curricular content of the course of study completed etc. ) †¢ a completed Comparative Matrix, along with all my supporting material backing up whether it meets the ARB criteria. †¢ the prescribed fee. ?1671 per part, so would be ? 1671 for part 1 in October this year or January 2014 (depending on my confidence level), and ? 671 for part 2 in 2014 or Apr 2014. All being well, I will be notified of the dates of examination within three weeks of the application being received and accepted by the Board. The Examination (same for part1 and part2) The examiners, in the first instance within a period of up to 60 minutes, will make a judgment as to whether or not the Comparative Matrix and supporting material demonstrate that either: (a) all the criteria are met; or (b) half or more of the criteria are met If the Comparative Matrix and supporting material is considered by the examiners to meet the requirements of (a) or (b) above, the examiners will prepare a series of questions to ask the candidate orally at the examination interview. This interview will be for a period of up to 45 minutes. Possibles outcomes If the Registrar is satisfied, taking into account the report of the examiners and any reports or advice from the independent examiner(s), that the candidate has demonstrated the required standard of competence, he or he shall notify the candidate that the relevant examination has been passed or failed. Or if the Registrar is unable to decide on the basis of the material before him or her as to whether or not the candidate has demonstrated that I had met all the criteria, the Registrar may consult with the Prescription Committee and may require that the candidate be re-examined. Re-examination will not normally incur payment of the prescribed fee, but this shall be at the Registr ar’s discretion.

Mercantilism as an Economic System and a School of Economic Thought Essay

Mercantilism as an Economic System and a School of Economic Thought - Essay Example While Thomas Mun is considered by the first mercantilist, James Steuart is called as the last major mercantilist. The last important work which was in pace with the mercantilists’ ideology was â€Å"Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy† published in 1767. Both the first and last mercantilists were merchants of England, while many other writers were included in the category of public officials. Beyond understanding mercantilism as an advocacy of the power and wealth of nations, Mun was appreciated for his view points on a wide array of economic thoughts. Mun presented the earlier mercantile policies in his manuscript written in 1630 and published in 1664 by his son. To Mun, England’s treasure (national wealth) could be increased by the way of engaging trade with other countries With this aim of national wealth, many policies were advocated by Mun which include limited consumption for increasing the amount of available goods for export, increased utiliz ation of land and other internal resources to decrease the imports, cutting off the export duties of domestic goods for exports and promotion of goods with inelastic demand so that more benefits would be availed. The skilled industrial population and shipping industry were effectively created by mercantilists in England.  (Mangusson, 2003). It was argued for the historical promotion of mercantilism in Europe by the authors like Athens and Delian League during 15th century by contributing special points of trade policies. They had also made special mention of the control of value of trade in bullion as necessary fro the advancement of Greek. They had also noted the competition of ‘Medieval Monarchs’ for the supremacy of the ‘market towns’ and of the trade of the...This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of mercantilism, as an economic system, that was dominant in Europe during the period from 15th to 18th centuries. Mercantilism is also assessed as an i mportant school of economic thought. It is a common knowledge, that all the theories of classical economics and later schools have got the theoretical roots of mercantilism. The mercantilists limited themselves to analyzing the process of circulation and thus failed to disclose the inner laws of the capitalist mode of production. Mercantilists identified capital with its money form in which it operates in the sphere of circulation and did not regard capital in the form it assumed in the production process. Mercantilism was progressive for its time, since it facilitated the development of the first big capitalist enterprises-manufactories- and encouraged the development of the productive forces and the victory of capitalism over feudalism. Classical economists criticized mercantilists by pointing out that even the successful implementation of mercantilist policies would ultimately lead to the oversupply of money and inflation, hence the imbalance of the economy. Though prominent criticism was that under mercantilism, government focused attention on the development of trade and the accumulation of money instead on the creation of an abundance of the ‘fruits of the earth’, which the physiocrats called , the real wealth of the nation lay, mercantilism was of immense importance as it was the beginning of an political economy.

Matt and Ben Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Matt and Ben - Essay Example The stars in the play, Kathleen Cowan, a Bachelor of Arts theatre senior, and Kristen Aviles, a BFA acting sophomore, were audible in their performance. Not only were they entertaining throughout the duration of the play, which took 90 minutes, but also they made the audience laugh heartily. They played their roles effectively, consequently leading to the success of the performance. The director of the play, Stephanie Freeman, was also active in directing the play. Apart from directing other performances, Freeman indicates that this play is appropriate for her research. She does an excellent job in executing her role, which is inclusive of effectively introducing women into contemporary comedy. She can show the audience the relaxed side of the theatres, in the hope that the play will enhance the introduction of more creative ideas into theatre performances. For this reason, through the play, she takes part in creating more opportunities for people introduce creativity in their stage performances. Her role is reflected in the reaction of the audience, who are all excited about the performance. West Virginia University. WVU LAB Theatre presents wacky comedy, ‘Matt and Ben’ Nov. 14-16. Retrieved on December 4, 2014 from:

Pakistan Elections Essay Example for Free

Pakistan Elections Essay Whilst the tenure of a democratically elected government comes to an end, political parties in Pakistan are gearing up for elections. Almost all significant parties have ruled the country one way or the other during the past five years. Perhaps, Elections 2013 are going to take place at the most critical time in the history of country. On the verge of selling their story to the public, the anti-status quo parties will have to produce a revolutionary and out of the box solutions to people’s problems, or to befool the masses yet once more. The energetic and aggressive media in its present capacity remains a major factor to influence minds. Still there is a big question mark on whether media can play their role positively and constructively. At the moment, media is the only institution which has the power to make or break the future of the country. Now when elections are just around the corner, any possible equation hinting at the postponement of elections is out of questions. Several attempts have been made and number of rumors has been floating but recent developments suggest that any such effort to derail the electoral system will not be supported by establishment. It is believed that three major factors will decide the outcome of the upcoming elections. First and foremost is an international issue, i.e. withdrawal of US and ISAF troops from Afghanistan. Three major parties (PPP, PML (N) and PTI) are on a serious quest of convincing US officials that their leadership will be the right choice to handle Afghan borders when US withdraws their troops. Two other factors will be internal but international community is keeping a close eye on it, namely economy and energy crisis. These elections will be dominated by these issues and any party who can provide solution for these problems can ultimately dominate the election results. This is slightly an idealistic statement; given the electoral process in Pakistan has its own dynamics. Yet these issues will affect the outcome of these elections a great deal. Country’s economy is severely jolted by poor economic decisions and terrorism. IMF has already declined any further assistance on economic revival. Terrorism and mismanagement of resources have coupled to shatter the economy of the country. More alarmingly, next budget is to be prepared by care taker government which is not likely present a popular budget. They will also be hesitant of making any tough decisions with little mandate. Looking for a next installment in terrorism support fund or Kerry-Lugar package will be the ultimate desire as the care taker government will not be in a position to bargain for a bail-out package from the international community. No political party has been able to assure USA that they have the most viable strategy to facilitate US exit from Afghanistan, establish peace in the region, resolution to the border issues with Afghanistan India and controlling the growing militancy in the country. Other issues that will be of immense importance for next government include controlling the law and order situation in Karachi, de-weaponizat ion in the country, establishing the writ of state in Balochistan and FATA, a cohesive national agenda, new provinces, minimizing corruption, land reforms, farmer-friendly agricultural policy and importantly for a common man; the inflation. It will be little unfair not to discuss Tahir-ul-Qadri factor for electoral reform in these elections. Regardless of what TUQ achieved with this entire exercise, it is imperative that he certainly had an impact on pushing election commission for strict electoral reforms. All of a sudden, election commission approved rules of qualification for contesting elections and party elections etc. This is more for self-survival than for any sincere efforts for transparent elections. Elections in Pakistan have their own dynamics. This is why parties enchanting slogans of change have to get the ‘electable’ candidates in each constituency. Not only PML(N) has to embrace the once Musharraf’s supporters and PPP has to break into PML(N) and PML(Q) but a party like PTI also had to get the feudal lords, Musharraf’s supporters and infamous politicians. Fortunately for the people and unfortunately for the political parties, there has been significant awareness about electing the right candidate regardless of any party, race, prejudice, cast or other factors. In this tricky scenario, parties are trying to portray themselves as righteous and honorable entities; at the same time, they are playing their cards on the other front very effectively, i.e. dirty politics! Thanks largely to vibrant electronic and print media in Pakistan. Next few weeks will give a clearer picture of which political party is going to utilize this opportunity. But one thing can be stated with conviction that these elections will be unlike all previous elections in Pakistan. As mentioned earlier, media have the most crucial role to play. These are no doubt the most crucial elections in Pakistan after 1970. These elections will decide Pakistan’s destiny in next few decades.

Queen Victoria Essay -- Alexandrina Victoria Royalty Essays

Queen Victoria   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Is it Georgiana Charlotte Augusta Alexandrina Victoria or just Alexandrina Victoria? Queen Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, London on May 24, 1819. She was the only child of Edward, the fourth son of King George III, and Victoria Mary Louise, the daughter of a German Duke. It was planed that the duke and duchess were to name their daughter Georgiana Charlotte Augusta Alexandrina Victoria but Prince Regent refused to have his name (George) nor his daughters name (Charlotte Augusta) to be his god daughter’s name. She was known as Alexandrina Victoria but was nicknamed Drina, her mother always called her Victoria. All this happiness ended when her dad, the Duke of Kent, died only eight months after she was born. The reason was because he let a small fever turn into pneumonia. Only a week after the death, King George III died and Prince Regent became King George IV.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Princess Victoria was brought up in the Kensington Palace, London by he governess. Her mom was so afraid of Victoria getting murdered by her uncle, who wanted to next in line for the throne. Victoria was never left alone there were always people who kept an eye out for her. She was too overprotected; she couldn’t even walk up the stairs with out holding some ones hand. John Conroy, who was her mother’s comptroller, kept a close eye on Victoria and was responsible for her. German was her main language until she the age of three. She then learned English and could speak it with out an accent. She also learned Italian because she loved listening to opera. Her favorite subject in school was his but she never knew she was soon going to play a major part in it. At age eleven she saw a family tree and said, â€Å"I’m nearer to the throne then I thought.† In her teens she became ill from complications of tonsillitis. With this weakness Conroy t ried to take advantage of her and asked her to sign a document saying he would be her secretary when she became Queen. Victoria refused. Victoria was close to her older sister, Feodora. She would send Victoria letters to cheer her up. In the summer of 1836, her cousins, Ernest and Albert, came to visit. Her mother thought one of the boys would be a good match for Victoria. Their father the Duke of Saxe-Coberg-Gotha, didn’t like the idea. May 24, 1837, she celebrated her 18th birthday. Now the only person standing in the way of her and ... ... her daughters call him â€Å"Mama’s Lover†. People got used to seeing them together and there was not much talk about them anymore. He remained on her confident for twenty years. When John Brown Died in 1883, the queen wrote, â€Å"The shock-the blow, the blank, the constant missing at every turn of one strong, powerful reliable arm and head almost stunned me and I am, truly over whelmed.† His room, like Albert’s, became a shrine. A flower was placed on his pillow everyday until she died. Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901, at the age of 81. This was forty years of widowhood. She left major instructions for her funeral. She wanted her sons to lift her in to her coffin; she would wear a white dress and her wedding veil. London was to be festooned in purple and white. She was buried next to Prince Albert in the Frogmore Royal Mausoleum at Windsor Castle. Victoria had reigned for nearly 64 years-the longest reign in British History. A statue of the Queen made in 1862 was brought out of storage and placed next to her husband in the mausoleum. Victoria’s statue looks at Albert, her love, devotion, and sorrow at his early death and her long widowhood always will be captured in that stone.

Creative Brief Essay

Is to increase the consumption of milk among the teenage group so that they would drink less sugary and carbonated drinks that would harm their health . The Product Milk is by far the healthiest beverage after water . Milk helps to strengthen the bones and the teeth . Milk drinking drops off sharply in the teenage years because it is considered to be uncool and most of teenagers are worried about the calories and fat . Part of it has to do with the lack of flavours and the packaging being dull . This is what we found out about the product we decided to help , which is HL Milk by Marigold . Target Audience Our target audience would be males and females aged from 16 to 25 years old .Milk is a beverage that every parent would tell their kids to drink as children , though most of them still drink milk for breakfast but they still choose to drink other drinks like coke , pepsi or ribena .Milk has become less relevant to their lifestyles . They think milk doesn’t go well with foods like Mcd , Pizza and KFC . Why they choose soft drinks is because the soft drinks are exciting , versatile and its an acceptable alternative to milk . Promise and support Promise Todays milk can help the teenagers become strong and dynamic . Looking at the hectic schedule teenagers have these days ,it is recommended to drink milk to help them feel fresh and energized the whole day . Support. Milk has the nutrition the body needs to look and feel dynamic. Today most teenage athletes and famous teen celebrities drink milk . Ice –cold milk taste great especially with HL Milk`s 3 new taste which are peach , coffee and mango . It has a more refreshing taste to it . Not to heavy nor to creamy . Its light and smooth . Brand personality. The personality now of HL Milk is dull and there isn’t any attractive colours that would attract a consumer to get it . Some consumers especially teenagers look at the packaging before purchasing products . If its attractive and youthful they would purchase it .The old packaging is very practical and conservative as it only has 2 colours with no pictures on the box . The needed personality for teenagers to buy the HL Milk would be exhuberant , contemparory and youthful . The packaging would suit the lifestyle of the teenagers . The would be shy to drink milk in public .

Information Sharing for the Bullwhip Effect

Information sharing for the bullwhip effect: over- or underestimated? Bachelor thesis: Thesis Circle: Organization studies, 2nd semester, academic year 2011-2012 Time will tell†¦. A processes perspective on inter-organizational collaboration Name: ANR: E-mail: PC Jansen 770926 P. C. [email  protected] nl Information sharing for the bullwhip effect: over- or underestimated? Abstract This literature review investigates the effect of information sharing from a buyer to a supplier in a supply chain on the performance of that supplier, with taking in mind that the supplier has to combat the bullwhip effect.With the existence of the bullwhip effect, a supplier cannot make right forecasts and therefore has difficulties in planning its production and/or inventory control. This research shows that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect and, by that, is positively influences the performance of the supplier in the chain. Keywords: Bullwhip, supply chain, information sharing, supplier performance, inventory control Thesis Circle: Time will tell†¦. A processes perspective on inter-organizational collaborationSupervisor: Remco Mannak Supervisor 2: Annemieke Stoppelenburg Name: ANR: E-mail: PC Jansen 770926 P. C. [email  protected] nl 2 Table of contents Table of contents 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical Framework 2. 1 Performance of a supplier 2. 2 Information sharing 2. 3 Bullwhip effect 3. Methodology 3. 1 Data collection 3. 2 Quality Indicators 4. Results 4. 1 Information sharing is the key solution 4. 2 Information sharing is not the key solution 5. Conclusion and recommendations 5. 1 Conclusion 5. 2 Recommendations for future research 6.Discussion and reflection 6. 1 Discussion 6. 2 Reflection 7. References 3 4 7 7 7 9 11 11 12 13 13 21 24 24 26 28 28 29 30 3 1. Introduction Collaboration is something which has occurred over all times and is a way for people as well as for organizations to accomplish any goal or wanted result. Min and Zhou (2002) stated that in today’s global marketplace, individual firms no longer compete as independent entities with unique brand names, but rather as integral part of supply chain links.According to Christopher (1992), a supply chain is the network of organizations that are involved, through upstream and downstream linkages, in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services delivered to the ultimate consumer. When looking at the downstream linkages, a supplier delivers his products or services to a buyer. The buyer has a recursive demand, and orders this demand to the supplier every period. The supplier, on his turn, has to deal with production scheduling and/or inventory control every period.However, dealing with those issues can be quite difficult for the supplier, when the demand of the buyer is variable and hard to predict. This problem, or phenomenon, is called the Bullwhip effect. Yu et al. (2001) descr ibed this phenomenon as that the variability of an upstream member’s demand is greater than that of the downstream member, and that the effect therefore largely is caused by the variability of ordering. The supplier’s uncertainty about the upcoming buyer’s demand can lead to inefficient productions and inefficient inventory control, which on their turn will lead to increases of costs or decreased in revenues.According to Chen (2003), information sharing is often suggested to combat the undesirable bullwhip effect. The importance of combating the bullwhip effect was elucidated by Yu et al. (2001), who stated that uncertainties will propagate through the supply chain in the form of amplification of ordering variability, which leads to excess in safety stock, increased logistics costs and inefficient use of resources (Yu et al, 2001). So, in order to reduce the chances for these negative consequences of uncertainties for the supplier, information sharing seems the key solution.According to Mohr and Spekman (1994), information sharing refers to the extent to which critical and proprietary information is communicated to one’s supply chain partner. Yu et al. 4 (2001) stated that while every single member has perfect information about itself, uncertainties arise due to lack of perfect information about other members. This seems logical, since a supplier can’t make the right decisions for his production schedule and his inventory control when he doesn’t know what the demand of the buyer will be. As Yu et al. 2001) stated, the supplier in the supply chain needs to make a forecast of its downstream site’s product demand for its own production planning, inventory control and material requirement planning. But, this forecast seems hard to make when uncertainties, by the lack of information, exist. However, there are some authors who don’t agree with this. Raghunathan (2001) for example stated that suppliers can do mu ch better in the case without information sharing, because the supplier can use its information about the retailer’s order history to greatly sharpen its demand forecast.This leads to a remarkable point, because on first sight it seems that the uncertainties, due to the bullwhip effect, can be solved by information sharing between the supplier and the buyer, but some authors have different thoughts on this point. This literature review will asses both views on the importance of information sharing in the supply chain to get a clear overview of its importance for the bullwhip effect and, by that, on the supplier’s performance. This leads to the following research goal and question:Research Question: What is the effect, according to the literature, of information sharing in a supply chain on the performance of the supplier? Conceptual model The following conceptual model will illustrate the goal of this research: Level of information sharing + Performance of the supplier Research goal: The aim of this literature review is to understand the effect of the level of information sharing in a supply chain on the performance of the supplier, where performance can be measured in terms of reductions in total costs and inventories.This paper investigates whether the performance of the supplier is positively influenced by the level of information sharing or not. 5 The unit of analysis: The unit of analysis in this research is on the level of the supplier. It could be expected that the level of information sharing has a positive effect on combating the bullwhip effect, and by that, on the supplier’s performance in the chain, since information can make the uncertainty about the buyer’s demand disappear. Yu et al. 2001) stated that while every single member has perfect information about itself, uncertainties arise due to lack of perfect information about other members. According to this theory, information sharing seems the key solution for reducin g or eliminating the bullwhip effect. Scientific relevance: The scientific relevance of this literature review lies within the contribution it brings to the field of research of the importance of downstream information for the supplier within a supply chain, in order to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect. It gives insight in the importance of information sharing.Since many authors claim that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect, but some on the other hand do not agree with this, this paper tries to give insight in what is true for this case. Practical relevance: The practical relevance of this literature review is that in our world a lot of companies are active in supply chains, and therefore, by this literature review, a supplier working in a supply chain is able to get insight in the importance of information sharing for their performance in that supply chain. 6 2. Theoretical framework 2. Performance of a supplier For the purpose of this research, only the supplier’s performance is being overviewed, and the buyer’s performance is disregarded. The reason for this is that the supplier and the buyer have different interests in the supply chain. The buyer only tries to get the best, in other words, lowest price, but the supplier on his turn also seeks to achieve good selling prices, reductions in total costs and inventories, and by that, increase his revenues. Because of these different targets, it is too complex to focus on both sides’ performance in this research.According to Slack et al. (2004), performance should always be measured against benchmarks, which could be historical standards, target performance standards, competitor performance standards, or absolute performance standards. In addition to that, Clifford (2000) stated that performance often is measured using quantitative measurements, in terms of the gains or benefits a company achieves in comparison to the costs invested. For this re search, the benchmark ‘absolute performance standards’ of Slack et al. 2004) will be used, since this benchmark takes performance on theoretical limits. This is what will be done in this paper as well. The performance of a supplier will be measured using theoretical quantitative measurements, in other words, at stated by Yu et al. (2001), by the extent to which a supplier achieves its specific objectives and benefits in terms of reductions in total costs and inventories. Since this is a literature review, no exact numbers will be used, but, as stated here above, theoretical quantitative measurements will be used. 2. Information sharing As stated before, the performance of the supplier is influenced by the level of information sharing. The reason for sharing information in the supply chain was stated by Yu et al. (2001), who stated that a supply chain partnership is a relationship formed between two independent members in supply channels through increased levels of infor mation sharing to achieve specific objectives and benefits in terms of reductions in total costs and inventories. Various authors described the concept of information sharing in supply chains.According to Mohr and Spekman (1994), information sharing refers to the extent to which critical and proprietary information is communicated to one’s supply chain partner. Lalonde (1998) reviewed five building blocks that characterize a solid supply chain relationship and considered sharing of 7 information as one of them. The other four are sharing of benefits and burdens, multiple contacts between economic entities, cross-functional management processes, and futureoriented collaborative processes (Lalonde (1998)). According to Yu et al. 2001), while every single member has perfect information about itself, uncertainties arise due to lack of perfect information about other members. In their paper they argued that the supply chain member should obtain more information about other members in order to reduce uncertainties. Li and Lin (2006) stated that in a highly uncertain environment with changing markets, organizations tend to build strategic partnership with their supply chain members to share information, increase organizational flexibility, and reduce the risk associated with the uncertainty.One of these risks could be the presence of the bullwhip effect. In their paper, Li and Lin (2006) concluded that generally, organizations with high levels of information sharing and information quality are associated with low level of environmental uncertainty. Furthermore, Li and Lin (2006) argued that, by taking the data available and sharing it with other parties within the supply chain, an organization can speed up the information flow in the supply chain, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the supply chain, and respond to customer changing needs quicker. More precisely, according to Lehoux et al. 2010), if actors have access to the demand of the final consume r, the number of products kept in stock at each location, the quantity ordered in the past few years, etc. , and are ready to cooperate, they can make planning decision that will have a positive impact on the system. Sahin and Robinson (2002) stated that information sharing can occur at several levels. Under ‘no information sharing’, the only demand data the supplier receives are actual orders from his immediate customer. On the other hand, at the ‘full information sharing’ level, complete information is available to support the specific decision-making environment.According to Sahin and Robinson (2002), this complete information include one or more of the following: production status and costs, transportation availability and quantity discounts, inventory costs, inventory levels, various capacities, demand data from all channel members, and all planned promotional strategies. Lin et al. (2002) argued that the higher level of information sharing is associat ed with the lower total cost, the higher order fulfillment rate and the shorter order 8 cycle time. Seidmann and Sundarajan (1997) summed up a number of possible different information sharing arrangements.They showed four categories, based on the level of impact the shared information has on the buyer and supplier. The categories are as followed: exchanging order information, sharing operational information, sharing strategic marketing information, and sharing strategic and competitive marketing and sales information. In a supply chain, two different streams of information can occur: downstream and upstream. According to Claro and Claro (2010), downstream information refers to the information obtained from a supplier’s marketing channels, be they wholesalers, distributors or retailers.The wholesalers, distributors, or retailers can all be seen as a buyer in the context of this research, since they all place orders at an upstream member (a supplier). From this it can be derive d that upstream information refers to the information a buyer obtains from the supplier. For the purpose of this research, the focus will be on downstream information; the information a supplier receives from the buyer. This information is critical for the supplier’s performance because with this information the buyer will have to make its forecast for production and/or inventory control.The upstream information will be disregarded, since, as stated before, this research only focuses on the supplier, and therefore the buyer’s performance will be disregarded. 2. 3 Bullwhip effect Forrester (1958) was the first one to describe the bullwhip effect and identified the supply chain’s natural tendency to amplify, delay, and oscillate demand information, and demonstrates its effect in a serial supply chain consisting of a retailer, distributor, warehouse, and factory. So, this phenomenon is known as the bullwhip effect.According to Metters (1997), it is so called becaus e a small variance or seasonality in actual consumer demand can ‘crack the whip’ for upstream suppliers, causing upstream suppliers to alternately produce at capacity then experience downtime. Yu et al. (2001) described this phenomenon as that the variability of an upstream member’s demand is greater than that of the downstream member. Basically, they say, the bullwhip effect is largely caused by the variability of ordering. Lee et al. (1997) identified the five major causes of the bullwhip effect as (1) the use of ‘demand signal processing', (2) nonzero 9 ead times, (3) order batching, (4) supply shortages, and (5) price fluctuations. According to Sucky (2008), the bullwhip effect has a number of negative effects in real supply chains, which can cause significant inefficiencies. Huang et al. (2007) stated that the devastating consequences caused by the bullwhip effect are clear indeed, like a redundant inventory, excessive production and resultant costs, i neffective transportation and laggardly logistics, inefficient operations, and low economic benefits of supply chain system.Sucky (2008) agreed with this and stated that the bullwhip effect typically leads to excessive inventory investments throughout the supply chain as the parties involved need to protect themselves against demand variations. So, for the supplier, this means that the uncertainty about demand can lead to more costs, derived from those excessive inventory investments, since suppliers have to forecast their production and/or inventory control, without knowing for sure if this forecast is correct. According to Lee et al. 1997), to reduce uncertainties, and by that the costly bullwhip effect, suppliers and buyers should share demand forecast information as well as information on inventory levels, sales data, order status, and production schedules. The bullwhip effect was illustrated by Sterman (1989) by the ‘beer game’. This game is a role-playing simulati on of an industrial production and distribution system. The game is designed in a way that each participant has a lack of information and they cannot communicate with each other. Therefore, according to Lee et al. 1997), each player has to make his decisions relying on orders from the neighboring player as the sole source of communications. The results of this test confirmed the existence of the bullwhip effect, because they revealed that the variances of orders amplify as one moves up in the supply chain (Lee et al. , 1997). 10 3. Methodology The design of this research was an integrative literature review. No empirical data has been gathered, only existing scientific literature was used in order to do this research. Therefore, this research was pure theoretical.The level of information sharing was used as the independent variable and the supplier’s performance, which is based on the bullwhip effect, was used as the dependent variable. 3. 1 Data collection Since this researc h is a literature review, only scientific academic literature was used. Therefore, the reliability of this research was guaranteed. The literature was found by using ISI (Web of Sciences) and Google Scholar. Web of Sciences was used as primary database, and Google Scholar was used when Web of Sciences could not provide the articles it showed in the search results.If this was the case, mostly the articles were indeed found by Google Scholar. When searching literature on Web of Sciences, the citation database was only using the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). Literature was partly searched and selected by some applicable search terms in ‘Web of Sciences’. Table 1 shows the most important search terms which were used. Those terms were used solely as well as in a combination together in order to find relevant articles. The search results were sorted by the times the articles were cited, in order to find the most important paper for my topic.The only problem which cam e up when using this strategy was that the newest articles, which could be important for this research, were very low in those search results, since they haven’t been cited that much yet. Therefore, after finishing this first sorting strategy, a second sorting was done as well, based on newest to oldest, to see if the last couple of years important papers regarding my topic have been written. The other part of data collection was done by looking at articles which were cited by the papers I viewed as important for my research.Search terms Supply chain Information sharing Supplier Supplier’s performance Table 1. Search terms 11 Bullwhip effect Downstream information Inventory control Demand process 3. 2 Quality indicators The reliability of this research was guaranteed, since only scientific academic literature was be used. All the literature that was used in this paper is high quality literature, because the used literature is published in well-known journals, and is pe er-reviewed.The confirmability is high for this research. The results will be able to be confirmed by others, since all statements, definitions and assumptions in this research were derived from previous literature. In this literature review, there has been consistent and correct referring to the authors. Next to that, the validity was also ensured, since more than just one database was used, so that all the relevant literature for this research was assured. The construct validity is enhanced as well.What had to be measured has actually been measured, since the concepts of this research were clearly defined and the used articles for doing this research were all using the same definitions and concepts. 12 4. Results Two different views on the importance of information sharing in order to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect can be distinguished in the literature: a positive effect on one side, and on the other hand there are authors who do not agree that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect. . 1 ‘Information sharing is the key solution’ The importance of information sharing for combating the bullwhip effect was clearly shown by the simulation study of Chatfield et al. (2004), who used a simulation model to examine the effects in supply chains of stochastic lead times and of information sharing and quality of that information in a periodic order-up-to level inventory system. One of their main findings was that information sharing reduces total variance amplification and stage (node to node) variance amplification.This, is what is needed to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect. Chatfield et al. (2004) therefore indeed conclude that information sharing decelerates the bullwhip effect as we go up the supply chain, which could be the result of planning ahead, since the upper supply chain echelons would be responding to customer demand information before the demands actually show up in the form of an order from the downstream partner. The findings of Moyaux et al. (2007), also by a simulation study, are in line with this.They concluded that, with information centralization (buyer’s demand information available), the supplier knows in real time and instantaneously the market consumption. By this, the supplier will be able to manage his production schedule and inventory control in the best way. Sterman’s (1989) results from his ‘beer game’-experiment are in line with this, since they showed that the bullwhip effect appears when actors in a chain haven’t got all the information they need to make the right decisions about production and inventory control.Sterman (1989) stated that misconceptions about inventory and demand information (Lee et al. , 1997) causes the bullwhip effect. So, Sterman (1989) also states that the effect of information sharing on the supplier’s performance is positive since it helps to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect. Croson and Donohue (2005) do not doubt about whether or not information sharing is the key solution; they see particularly sharing information on inventory levels as countermeasure to the bullwhip effect. According to them, from an operational perspective, inventory 13 nformation can be used to update demand forecasts and lessen the impact of demandsignaling errors and delays. In their paper, they stated that ‘analytical research on inventory management in two-echelon supply chains with a single supplier and one or more retailers (e. g. , Bourland et al. 1996; Lee et al. 1997; Cachon and Fisher 2000; Gavirneni et al. 1999) concludes that sharing inventory information can improve supply chain performance, with the upstream member (i. e. , the supplier) enjoying most of the benefits’ (Croson and Donohue (2005)).According to Croson and Donohue (2005), in these analytical models, inventory information provides the supplier with more timely and less distorted demand signals, and these signals are then factored into the supplier’s order decisions, and these factors result in lower safety stock and/or higher service levels in comparison with cases where no inventory information is shared. Lee et al. (1997) totally agreed with those findings. In their paper, as stated earlier, they analyzed four sources of the bullwhip effect (demand signal processing, rationing game, order batching, and price variations).With their demand model, they considered a retailer's singleitem multiperiod inventory problem, where the retailer (buyer) orders a single item from a supplier every period. In this setting, the supplier relies totally on the order data from the buyer. According to Lee et al. (1997), their result shows that such an arrangement will cause the supplier to lose track of the true demand pattern at the retail end, and, besides that, the supplier's inventory control based on this distorted information will inevitably suffer. Lee et al. 1997) concluded, based on th ese findings, that when sales and inventory data are shared among chain members, the supply chain as a whole can implement echelon-based inventory control which can yield superior performance to installation-based inventory control. Moreover, Huang et al. (2007), based on three simulation experiments according to the empirical practice of the three most representative Chinese companies in the steel industry, found that the bullwhip effect existed in this supply chain, and that the effect can be reduced by a control method they developed.Based on classical control theories and methods, combined with the empirical practices, Huang et al. (2007) concluded that the best way for firms to dampen and control the bullwhip effect is to take effective measures for information sharing, especially in this information society. More specifically, Huang et al. (2007) stated that managers should choose an appropriate method of controlling the bullwhip effect, which 14 as to be the usage of some adv anced information management system and management solutions, for example Advanced Planning System (APS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), E-business, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), short-term inventory, and distribution optimization, is an effective way to control the bullwhip effect. Since those management systems are advanced information management systems, they are all based on shared information in the supply chain. The conclusions of Huang et al. (2007) therefore indicated the importance of information sharing to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect.Ozer and Wei (2004) also showed how important the effect of information sharing can be for the supplier. According to Ozer and Wei (2004), both the cost and the base stock level decrease as customers place more of their demand in advance. Advance demand information, according to Ozer and Wei (2004), refers to the situation when customers place orders in advance for a future delivery. If this is the case, the supplier knows what the order will be for the upcoming period, and therefore, the uncertainty seems low or even eliminated.As a consequence of that, it is clear that the cost and base stock level decrease. However, Ozer and Wei (2004) even go further on this important role of information. Based on a numerical study, where they studied 350 problem instances, they stated that advance demand information can be a substitute for capacity and inventory. In other words, when a supplier receives full demand information from the buyer’s side, the supplier doesn’t even have to hold any stock, and by that, the supplier’s performance is influenced positively, since the supplier doesn’t have the risk of extra costs and inventories.One other way to show the value of information sharing in a supply chain was brought up by Cannella and Ciancimino (2011). Cannella and Ciancimino (2011) performed a supply chain stress test via a sudden and intense change in demand, and they distinguished diff erent supply chain configurations: traditional and information exchange. In the traditional supply chain, each level in the supply chain issues production orders and replenishes stock without considering the situation at either up- or downstream tiers of the supply chain (Cannella and Ciancimino (2011)).On the other hand, in the information exchange supply chain, the retailer and supplier order independently, yet exchange demand information and action plans in order to align their forecasts for capacity and long-term planning (Cannella and Ciancimino (2011)). Their main conclusion regarding the difference in these configurations is that the 15 bullwhip effect, inventory instability and intermittent orders are not completely eliminated, but are reduced with respect to the traditional supply chain, and that information exchange supply chains generally outperform the traditional configuration.This means that, ceteris paribus, all performance measures are superior to the traditional cas e (Cannella and Ciancimino (2011)). This conclusion is an important one for the research question of this paper, since it makes clear that the supplier’s performance is really dependent on whether information is shared or not. One other remarkable thing in their conclusion is that the bullwhip effect is not totally eliminated when information is shared in the supply chain. Dejonckheere et al. 2004) concluded this as well in their paper, when they showed that for the class of order-up-to policies, information sharing helps to reduce the bullwhip effect significantly, especially at higher levels in the chain, however, the bullwhip problem is not completely eliminated and it still increases as one moves up the chain. A new question one can come up with here is if it is possible to totally eliminate the bullwhip effect by information sharing. An answer to this new question is given by Chen et al. (2000).In their research, they provided a model based on the assumption that demand information is centralized, and all stages use the same inventory policy and forecasting technique. Centralized demand information means that customer demand information is available to every stage of the supply chain (Chen et al. , 2000). The findings of Chen et al. (2000) showed that providing each stage of the supply chain with complete access to customer demand information can significantly reduce bullwhip effect. However, according to Chen et al. 2000), the results also demonstrated that even when (i) all demand information is centralized, (ii) every stage of the supply chain uses the same forecasting technique, and (iii) every stage uses the same inventory policy, there will still be an small increase in variability at every stage of the supply chain. Reason for this, given by Chen et al. (2000), is that the supplier can never know the mean and the variance of buyer’s demand. This means that the bullwhip effect can never totally be eliminated from the supply chain, even if full information sharing is done by the buyer.Croson and Donohue (2006), who conducted the beer game-experiment of Sterman (1989), also concluded that the bullwhip cannot totally be eliminated. Croson and Donohue (2006) conducted the game under business students at the University of Minnesota and found that the bullwhip effect still exists when retail demand is stationary (not fluctuating) and commonly known. Reason for this was 16 given by Sterman (1989) itself, who noted that dynamic settings render decision making difficult, even when only one decision maker is involved, due to reduced saliency of feedback.For the purpose of this study this means that a supplier is missing the feedback or forewarning of when the buyer is running short on inventory. Therefore, uncertainty still exist since the forecast is hard to make, and the bullwhip effect will not be eliminated. However, Yu et al. (2001) stated that this is possible. Based on their case study of L&TT, a Hong Kong based mul tinational company which had to deal with a large number of new manufacturers and component suppliers in their industry, Yu et al. (2001) concluded that with access to the customer rdering information, the supplier can eliminate the amplified buyer’s demand variance in its replenishment process. Besides that, Yu et al. (2001), according to their quantitative analysis, stated that the supply chain partnership can not only help the members of a decentralized supply chain to eliminate the bullwhip effect, but also improve the overall performance of the supply chain. So, based on the findings of Yu et al. (2001), the overall performance of the supply chain can be improved. This means that the supplier and buyer should make information sharing arrangements, since it can be advantageous for them both.Seidmann and Sundarajan (1997) summed up possible different information sharing arrangements, showing the impact of information sharing on the operations, sales, marketing, and product ion strategies of the parties that contract to share the information. The four arrangements they summed up are exchanging order information, sharing operations information, sharing strategic marketing information, and an agreement where the information adds both strategic and competitive value to the party that receives it. The sharing strategic marketing information agreement seems the optimal agreement for the research question in this paper.According to Seidmann and Sundarajan (1997), arrangements like these occur when one organization owns information that it can derive little independent value from, but which another can use to generate operational benefits for the company it receives the information from, besides garnering strategic value for its own sales and marketing departments. This level can be very beneficial for the supplier. As Seidmann and Sundarajan (1997) stated, the information in this level can be used by the supplier’s sales and product development groups for improved demand forecasting, promotion scheduling, and segment-specific forecasts and therefore, in 17 hat situation, it is possible for a buyer to allow a supplier to access broad market information that provides the supplier with strategic and competitive benefits. A new point of discussion can come up here, because, according to Lee et al. (1997), sales data and inventory status data are proprietary for buyers, and they are not obligated to share this data with others, in this case, the supplier. Lee et al. (1997) in their paper do not state that sharing information can be advantageous for the buyer as well as the supplier as Yu et al. (2001) do, but they take in mind why the buyer would exchange information to the supplier.According to Li (2002), in line with this, buyers would not voluntarily share their information. He identified conditions under which the manufacturer would be able to buy retailer information. Claro and Claro (2010) concluded as well that sharing informa tion can be good for both sides in the supply chain. They found their results by doing a survey research under 174 suppliers and 67 buyers, with which they tested their hypothesis, which was: ‘the more downstream information a supplier obtains, the higher the degree of collaboration in a buyer-supplier relationship’ (Claro and Claro, 2010).The results supported the hypothesis. Claro and Claro (2010) showed that when downstream information is shared, so, from buyer to supplier, the degree of collaboration, in terms of joint planning, joint problem solving and flexibility in the supply chain is very high. These findings show that sharing the proprietary information can bring advantages for the buyer as well. An interesting point in the studies who showed that information sharing is the key solution for reducing or avoiding the bullwhip effect was brought up by Croson and Donohue (2006).As stated before, they conducted the beer game under business students, but for the pur pose of the study of this interesting finding the participants also had access to dynamic inventory information. According to Croson and Donohue (2006), the results suggest that members near the beginning of the chain exhibit a different impact from inventory information than those near the end. This means that having access to dynamic information will lead to a greater reduction of the bullwhip effect for suppliers like a manufacturer and a distributor, than for suppliers who are closer to the end consumer, like a distributor.So, from their findings, information sharing is very important for reducing or avoiding the bullwhip effect, but much more important for suppliers who are at the beginning of the chain than for suppliers who are closer to the end buyer. 18 ‘Information sharing is the key solution’ Chatfield et al. (2004) simulation model to examine different effects in a supply chain ? periodic order-up-to level inventory system Moyaux et al. (2007) ? simulation s tudy ? Findings: Information sharing reduces total variance amplification and stage (node to node) variance amplification.Sterman (1989) ? Beer-game experiment ? This experiment is used and conducted a lot in the literature Croson and Donohue (2005) ? Analytical research on inventory management in two-echelon supply chains with a single supplier and one or more retailers Lee et al. (1997) ? Analyzed four sources of the bullwhip effect ? With their demand model, they considered a retailer's single-item multiperiod inventory problem Huang et al. (2007) ? Three simulation experiments in the Chinese steel industry ?Based on classical control theories and methods, combined with the empirical practices Ozer and Wei (2004) ? Numerical study with 350 instances Findings: With information centralization, the supplier knows in real time and instantaneously the market consumption Findings: The bullwhip effect appears when actors in a chain haven’t got all the information they need to mak e the right decisions about production and inventory control Findings: Sharing inventory information can improve supply chain performance, with the upstream member (i. e. the supplier) enjoying most of the benefits Findings: When sales and inventory data are shared among chain members, the supply chain as a whole can implement echelon-based inventory control which can yield superior performance Findings: The best way for firms to dampen and control the bullwhip effect is to take effective measures for information sharing, especially in this information society. Managers should choose an appropriate method of controlling the bullwhip effect Findings: Both the cost and the base stock level decrease as customers place more of their emand in advance. Advance demand information can be a substitute for capacity and inventory Findings: The bullwhip effect, inventory instability and intermittent orders are not completely eliminated, but are reduced with respect to the traditional supply cha in, and that information exchange Cannella and Ciancimino (2011) ? Supply chain stress test via a sudden and intense change in demand 19 supply chains generally outperform the traditional configuration. Dejonckheere et al. (2004) ? The class of order-up-to policies Findings: ?Information sharing helps to reduce the bullwhip effect significantly, especially at higher levels in the chain ? Hhowever, the bullwhip problem is not completely eliminated and it still increases as one moves up the chain Chen et al. (2000) Findings: ? A model based on the assumption that ? Providing each stage of the supply chain demand information is centralized, with complete access to customer demand and all stages use the same inventory information can significantly reduce policy and forecasting technique bullwhip effect ?The supplier can never know the mean and the variance of buyer’s demand, so the bullwhip effect is never completely eliminated Yu et al. (2001) Findings: ? Case study of L ? With access to the customer ordering ? Quantitative analysis information, the supplier can eliminate the amplified buyer’s demand variance in its replenishment process ? The supply chain partnership can not only help the members of a decentralized supply chain to eliminate the bullwhip effect, but also improve the overall performance of the supply chain Claro and Claro (2010) Findings: ?Survey research under 174 suppliers ? When downstream information is shared, and 67 buyers so, from buyer to supplier, the degree of collaboration, in terms of joint planning, joint problem solving and flexibility in the supply chain is very high. Croson and Donohue (2006) Findings: ? Sterman’s (1989) beer-game under ? Members near the beginning of the chain business students exhibit a different impact from inventory information than those near the end ? Having access to dynamic information ill lead to a greater reduction of the bullwhip effect for suppliers at the beginning of the chain, th an for suppliers who are closer to the end consumer 20 4. 2 ‘Information sharing is not the key solution’ Eventhough a lot of authors, as shown here above, state that information sharing is the key solution for reducing or avoiding the bullwhip effect and by that improving the supplier’s performance, there are also authors who do not agree with this. For example Raghunathan (2001), based on analysis of the earlier study of Lee et al. (2000) and through simulation. Lee et al. 2000), studied the value of sharing demand information in a supply chain model with a nonstationary demand process. Their key findings are that the suppliers costs can be reduced as a result of information sharing. Raghunathan does not agree with this. According to Raghunathan (2001), a supplier can reduce the variance of its forecast further by using the entire order history to which it has access. Thus, Raghunathan (2001) stated, when intelligent use of already available internal informatio n (order history) suffices, there is no need to invest in interorganizational systems for information sharing.Next to Raghunathan are Cachon and Fisher (2000), who studied the value of sharing data in a model with one supplier, N identical retailers, and stationary stochastic consumer demand. They concluded that, for the setting they studied, implementing information technology to accelerate and smooth the physical flow of goods through a supply chain is significantly more valuable than using information technology to expand the flow of information. The reason they give is that when a retailer is flush with inventory, its demand information provides little value to the supplier because the retailer has no short-term need for an additional batch.According to Cachon and Fisher (2000), a retailer’s demand information is most valuable when the retailer’s inventory approaches a level that should trigger the supplier to order additional inventory, but this is also precisely when the retailer is likely to submit an order. Graves (1999) goes beyond this and gives an even lower value to information sharing in a specific, namely, zero. Graves (1999) developed a model assuming assume that each site in the system orders at preset times according to an order-up-to policy, that delivery times are deterministic, and that the demand processes are stochastic with independent increments.Graves (1999) concludes that information sharing provides no benefits to the supply chain, when there is no outside inventory source and an order-up-to-policy. 21 Gavirneni et al. (1999) furthermore studied different patterns of information flow between a retailer and a supplier. With their study they found that information sharing is does not always have a big value, in other words, is not always the key solution for reducing or avoiding the bullwhip effect.The objective in their paper is to determine a production strategy to minimize the supplier’s costs, under various sce narios that differ in terms of the supplier’s information about the downstream part of the supply chain. Their key observations, according to Chen (2003), are: (1) when the retailer demand variance is high, or the value of (s, S) is either very high or very low, information tends to have low values, and (2) if the retailer demand variance is moderate, and the value of (s, S) is not extreme, information can be very beneficial.A (s, S)-policy, according to Yu et al. (2001) means that an order will be placed to replenish the stock level to S at each time period if the stock level is less than the recorder point s. So, according to Gavirneni et al. (1999), in some situations information sharing is overestimated and is definitely not the key solution for reducing or avoiding the bullwhip effect. Dejonckheere et al. (2003) found some other solution for reducing the bullwhip effect and neither did say that information sharing is the key solution.Based on a methodology by control sys tems engineering, which includes transfer functions, frequency response curves and spectral analysis, they introduced a general decision rule that avoids variance amplification (bullwhip effect) and succeeds in generating smooth ordering patterns, even when demand has to be forecasted. Firstly, Dejonckheere et al. (2003) concluded that whatever forecasting method is used, order-up-to policies will always result in a bullwhip effect. Therefore, they tried to find a solution to reduce or avoid this effect. According to Dejonckheere et al. 2003), the crucial difference with the class of order-up-to policies is that in their proposed rule, net stock and on order inventory discrepancies are only fractionally taken into account. Their general decision rule has to expected benefits: (1) it is expected to detect and eject rogue variations in demand (high frequencies) so that excess costs due to unnecessary ramping up and down production or ordering levels are avoided, and (2) it is possible to quantify the amount of variability reduction by means of the same procedure (Dejonckheere et al. (2003)). 22 ‘Information sharing is not the key solution’ Raghunathan (2001) Findings: ?Analysis of the earlier study of Lee et ? A supplier can reduce the variance of al. (2000) and through simulation its forecast further by using the entire order history to which it has access Cachon and Fisher (2000) Findings: ? Based on a model with one supplier, ? Implementing information technology N identical retailers, and stationary to accelerate and smooth the physical stochastic consumer demand flow of goods through a supply chain is significantly more valuable than using information technology to expand the flow of information Graves (1999) Findings: ?Based on a model assuming that each ? Information sharing provides no site in the system orders at preset benefits to the supply chain, when times according to an order-up-to there is no outside inventory source policy, that del ivery times are and an order-up-to-policy. deterministic, and that the demand processes are stochastic with independent increments Gavirneni et al. (1999) Findings: ? Studied different patterns of ?When the retailer demand variance is information flow between a retailer high, or the value of (s, S) is either and a supplier. very high or very low, information tends to have low values Dejonckheere et al. (2003) Findings: ? Based on control systems engineering ? Introduced a general decision rule ? Whatever forecasting method is used, order-up-to policies will always result in a bullwhip effect ? Their general decision rule: (1) is expected to detect and eject rogue variations in emand (high frequencies), and (2) it is possible to quantify the amount of variability reduction by means of the same procedure 23 5. Conclusion and recommendations 5. 1 Conclusion The answer to the research question as stated in the beginning of this paper is provided in this section. The research question wh ere this research is based on was: ‘What is the effect, according to the literature, of information sharing in a supply chain on the performance of the supplier? To answer the research question, and to see if information sharing for the bullwhip effect is over- or underestimated, the literature around the topic of the bullwhip effect had to be assorted, and it showed that in two main streams exist in the literature when focusing on the role of information sharing for the bullwhip effect. In the literature, with exceptions (Raghunathan 2001: Cachon and Fisher 2000: Graves 1999: Gavirneni et al. 1999: Dejonckheere et al. 2003), information sharing as the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect seems to have the upper hand.First, shortly the most important findings from the first view will be summarized, which was the view of information sharing as key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect in order to increase the performance of a supplier. Chatfield et al. (2004) and Moyaux et al. (2007) showed by simulation studies that with information sharing in the supply chain, the supplier is much more well-known about what is going happen, in other words, what the market does and what the buyer’s demand will be, and therefore, according to their findings, the bullwhip effect is reduced.Also results of some empirical studies showed that information sharing is the key solution. Huang et al. (2007) concluded that managers should stick to advanced information management systems for their company because this will reduce the bullwhip effect. Ozer and Wei (2004), with their numerical study, found that advance demand information will results in decreases of costs and inventory level, and therefore has a positive effect on the supplier’s performance. Yu et al. 2001), with their case study of L, concluded that when a supplier has access to the buyer’s ordering information, the supplier can eliminate the amplified buyer’s dema nd variance in its replenishment process. Claro and Claro (2010), by their survey research, even showed that not only the supplier can benefit from sharing information but the buyer can do as well, because when downstream information is shared, the degree of collaboration, in terms of joint planning, joint problem solving and flexibility in the supply chain is very high. 24The main findings of the other view, the view which finds that information sharing is not the key solution, were as followed. Raghunathan (2001) stated that information sharing is not necessarily needed, because a supplier can reduce the variance of its forecast further by using the entire order history to which it has access. Furthermore, Cachon and Fisher (2000) concluded that accelerating and smoothing the physical flow of goods through a supply chain is significantly more valuable than using information technology to expand the flow of information.Graves (1999) found that, in a specific market model, informati on sharing provides no benefits to the supply chain, when there is no outside inventory source and an order-up-to-policy. Dejonckheere et al. (2003) had a remarkable result. They introduced a general decision rule, which should detect the bullwhip effect and quantify the amount of the bullwhip effect, so that suppliers can respond to this in time. The arguments for information sharing as key solution seem stronger than the ones who say information sharing is not that important.The argument of Raghunathan (2001) for example, that a supplier can reduce the variance of its forecast further by using the entire order history to which it has access, seems not very strong. The findings of Raghunathan in fact were rejected by Croson and Donohue (2006) who conducted the beer game of Sterman (1989) under business students and found that the bullwhip effect still exists when retail demand is stationary (not fluctuating) and commonly known.This means that, even if a supplier has the order histo ry, the demand is known, and the demand is not really fluctuating, a supplier cannot make the right forecast since the bullwhip effect isn’t totally eliminated. The argument of Raghunathan (2001) can call up more discussion. Results from the past do not guarantee anything for the future, and especially these days with the economic crises, you never know what the market with do and how the financial situation of your customers will be.Therefore, making forecasts based on history seems not a strong argument. Other arguments saying that information sharing is overestimated all focus on specific situations, but it seems that overall information sharing is not overestimated at all in the literature. Much more authors, based on different (simulations) models and empirical studies, claim that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect than authors who do not claim that, and this seems logical. Without enough information, a supplier 25 annot make r ight judgments about his production schemes and inventory control, since he doesn't know what the next period will bring for him in terms of the buyer’s demand. The results of this uncertainty for the supplier can be either a low inventory and the chance of not being able to fulfill the buyer’s demand because of that inventory, or the chance of having an inventory which is too large and being stuck with too many unsold products after the buyer’s demand. To avoid this effect, the supplier should have access to the necessary information from the buyer.However, as also stated by Li (2002), why would a buyer share this information, when it is not in any way beneficial for him? The information sharing arrangements of Seidmann and Sundarajan (1997) can bring the solution. Their third level, sharing strategic marketing information, is the one which suits the best in this case. The supplier and buyer should make this arrangement, so that the buyer shares the needed down stream information to the supplier. This information shared has strategic value to the supplier.The buyer, on his turn, could, in return for the information, ensure himself for example of better purchase prices. In this way, both parties can gain from the agreement. Claro and Claro (2010) came up with more descriptions of how the performance of the buyer could positively be influenced as well next to the performance of the supplier, by stating that joint planning, joint problem solving and flexibility in the supply chain are all possible consequences of a situation where information is being shared from buyer to supplier. 5. Recommendations for future research For further research it will be very interesting to investigate to what extent the performance of the buyer and supplier can be negatively influenced as well by information sharing within the supply chain. In the literature, as I have seen, a lot is written about the importance of information sharing, and the overall conclusio n is that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect, and, by that, positively influences the performance of the supplier and also the whole chain’s performance.However, there hasn’t been done much research about possible negative consequences of information sharing within the chain and therefore this seems a gap in the existing literature. For example, what could happen when information is fully shared between suppliers and buyers, is that the suppliers get totally dependent on those information by controlling their production and/or inventory, and when the information for any reason suddenly is distorted, misinterpreted or wrong, a problem can occur. 26 6. Discussion and reflection 6. Discussion As it is clear from the results section and conclusion, two views on the importance of information sharing for the supplier’s performance exist in the literature. The conclusion shows that it can be stated that information sharing is the key solution to reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect, and, by that, has a positive influence on the performance of the supplier. The practical implication of this research lies within the insight it gives to actors in a supply chain. The insight is especially meant for suppliers, since this research focused on the supplier and not specifically on the buyer.The bullwhip effect seems a very common problem in supply chains and therefore it seems to be a topic which suppliers will often will encounter. This research gives insight in how the bullwhip effect can be reduced or avoided. As concluded, the first solution on sight seems easy. Suppliers should try to make the buyer share the needed downstream information, so that the supplier can make right forecasts, and wellover thought production and/or inventory control. However, one cannot ignore for example the general decision rule of Dejonckheere et al. (2003).They believe that their model can detect and quantify the bullwhip effect in time, so this might be a solution as well for reducing or avoiding the effect. However, no sequel study on their paper has been done and so, there hasn’t been any further prove of this model. The setting of this paper gives reason for discussion. In this paper, the focus has only been on the performance of a supplier and did not specifically focus on the buyer’s performance. This research even ignored more or less the buyer’s performance. Therefore, discussion can come up, since the supply chain has two sides: a buyer and a supplier.As said, this research only looked through the eyes of the supplier, in other words, how the supplier could reduce or avoid the bullwhip effect, by that make better forecasts and decisions about production and/or inventory control, and so improve his performance. The overall conclusion is that information sharing is the key solution. However, this is only in the interest for the supplier, while the other important player in this story, namely, the buyer, hasn’t been spotlighted in this story. In this paper it is assumed and concluded that a buyers should share his information, but the 7 paper did not really put a good focus on the buyer’s performance, and what the possible consequences of information sharing for the buyer could be. Another point of discussion lies within the literature used for this research. The problem is that a lot of authors use models in their paper to conduct, analyze and conclude about whether or not information sharing is important for the bullwhip effect, but those models differ from each other. Some authors use stationary market models, some use non-stationary, some use order-up-to policy models, some use order-point-quantity policies.In other words, authors use specific supply chain settings to make their conclusions, and therefore, this research includes a very broad scope on the topic, which means that conclusions made in this research are not applicable in every supply chain, since the supply chain settings can differ. 6. 2 Reflection When looking back on writing this literature review, findings literature was not the problem. Many articles have written about the topic ‘supply chain’ in relation to ‘bullwhip effect’, but this didn’t mean that it was easy to find the right literature.Because of the large quantity papers, a very specific search method was needed in order to find the really important papers to be able to answer the research question of this paper. One difficult point in doing this research was that many of the most important papers included very detailed and extensive statistical models, which sometimes made it very difficult to understand the papers in the right way and derive right conclusions from it. Besides that, it was important to focus only on the supplier’s performance and leave the buyer’s performance outside the focus of this paper.The reason of that is that the supplie r and buyer, as written before, both have their own values and interests, and therefore, if the paper would focus on both of these actors, more than one dimension will exist and the research will get too extensive. When the research goal and question were clear, soon it became clear as well that two views on the importance of information sharing for the bullwhip effect existed. However, I was hoping to find much more results on the second view, namely that information sharing is not the key solution. This was a disappointing thing in the research. 28 7.References Aviv, Y. (2001). The effect of collaborative forecasting on supply chain performance. Management Science 47(10): 1326–1343. Bourland, K, Powell, S, Pyke, D. (1996). Exploiting timely demand information to reduce inventories. European Journal of Operational Research, 92: 239–253. Cachon, G. , M. Fisher (2000). Supply chain inventory management and the value of shared information. Management Science 46(8): 1032à ¢â‚¬â€œ1048. Cannella, S. , Ciancimino, E. (2011). On the bullwhip avoidance phase: supply chain collaboration and order smoothing. International Journal of Production Research 48 (2): 6739–6776.Chatfield, D. C. , Kim, J. 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