Forecasting: Issues & Challenges for Marketing Management

Abstract

Forecasting plays an important role in every major functional area of business management. In the area of marketing however, forecasting is doubly important; not only does it have a central role in marketing itself, but marketing-developed forecasts play a key role in the planning of production, finance, and other areas of corporate activity. The importance of forecasting has become more widely acknowledged in the recent past due to substantial changes in the economic environment. The shortages and the increased inflation of the early 197O's, followed by a major recession, have focused renewed attention on forecasting and the benefits it can provide.