The availability of data and the possibility of establishing relationships between the factors depend directly on the maturity of a product, and hence the life-cycle stage is a prime determinant of the forecasting method to be used. In virtually every decision they make, executives today consider some kind of forecast. Here the authors try to explain the potential of forecasting to managers, focusing special attention on sales forecasting for products of Corning Glass Works as these have matured through the product life cycle.
And because trends tend to change gradually rather than suddenly, statistical and other quantitative methods are […]