Bullwhip Effect

Biological Parallel

Small demand fluctuations at retail amplify upstream into wild manufacturing swings—that's the bullwhip effect. Population cycles show the same dynamics: lynx populations track snowshoe hare populations with a delay, causing boom-bust oscillations that persist for decades. The amplification comes from time lags between signal (hare availability) and response (lynx reproduction), combined with each actor optimizing locally without system-wide information. Biology's solution: faster feedback loops and direct sensing of actual demand, not predictions.