FORECASTING TECHNIQUE FAMILIARITY, SATISFACTION, USAGE, AND APPLICATION

A ten-year retrospective study of Mentzer and Cox (1984) was undertake n to answer the question 'Have sales forecasting practices changed ove r the past ten years?' A mail survey of 207 forecasting executives was employed to investigate this important question. Findings revealed bo th discrepancies and similarities between today's sales forecasting pr actices and those of ten years ago. One particular finding indicated g reater reliance on and satisfaction with quantitative forecasting tech niques today versus ten years ago. Another indicated that forecasting accuracy has not improved over the past ten years, even though the fam iliarity and usage of various sophisticated sales forecasting techniqu es have increased. Future research and managerial implications are dis cussed based on these and other findings.