investment growth of some industries. These industries, with few exceptions, are mainly
resided in the basic industry, such as power supply and raw material manufacturing.
This paper conducts an empirical analysis on China’s steel and electricity industry,
which perceives a distinct investment fluctuation of these basic industry sectors. While
there is an excessive undulation of the basic industry’s investment, its products
consumption undergoes a rather stable growth for the same period of time. This paper
attempts to explain the imbalance of the two sides with the theory of Bullwhip Effect,
and work out some practical solutions to avoid the excessive investment fluctuation of
the basic industry.
Bullwhip Effect is used to describe the phenomenon of demand amplification in supply
chains. When the demand information is transmitted from the lower reaches to the upper
reaches of a supply chain, the demand variation becomes greater. This paper extends the
conception of “demand” from product demand to investment demand, so that the theory
can be used to explain the excessive investment fluctuation of the basic industry. Due to
the complex structure of the industrial chain that contains the basic industry, demand
information, when transmitted from lower reaches industries to the top of the industrial
chain, is bound to be distorted and amplified. The result is that the basic industry
sectors’ investment is misguided and experiences excessive fluctuations.
When the Bullwhip Effect is inevitable, the best way to counteract the distortion of
demand information is to increase the accuracy of demand forecast. Under Bullwhip
Effect, nominal demand is deviated from real demand, so demand forecast should aim at
identifying the real demand from nominal demand. This paper adopts the method of
Kalman Filter to conduct basic industry’s demand forecast, and practises this method
with statistical data of China’s steel demand between 1984 and 2003. The calculated
results of steel products’ real demand show that the investment fluctuation of steel
industry has a close relation with nominal demand’s deviation from real demand.
Since the Bullwhip Effect derives from strategic interactions of different members in an
industrial chain, it relies on the efforts from all members of an industrial chain to lessen
the Bullwhip Effect and reduce basic industry’s investment fluctuation. This paper
advocates that industrial chain coordination and cooperation should be put into practice
based on the theory of supply chain management. Through information sharing and
strategic cooperation between industrial chain members, information dissymmetry and
operational uncertainties can be effectively reduced. Once information distortion is
weakened, basic industry’s investment fluctuation can be controlled. Some solutions for
industrial chain coordination and cooperation are also studied in the paper, including
information sharing, formation of strategic cooperation relationship, practice of third
party logistic and establishment of industry monitoring and guarding system.
Key Word:Basic Industry Investment Fluctuation Bullwhip Effect
Kalman Filter Industrial Chain