Practical forecasting for managers - Mary Nash

In making conscious decisions, we all make forecasts. We may not think that we are forecasting, but our choices will be directed by our anticipation of results of our actions or omissions. This book is intended to help managers and administrators do a better job of anticipating and hence a better job of managing. 'Practical Forecasting for Managers' is based on the authors' experience of teaching business forecasting courses to students on undergraduate commerce and management information systems programmes and to MBA candidates.



The key emphasis of this book is on the practical application of ideas. The focus is on straightforward ideas that can be understood, explained and put into action. More advanced methods are covered, but they are treated so that they can be easily understood in the general context of forecasting and it is made plain how they may best be used. Topics of strategic interest, such as long term and qualitative forecasting for use in planning new products and services, as well as tactical and short-term quantitative forecasting are presented in a clear and logical style.



This valuable resource includes many small but important tools and tricks to ease the job of actually preparing forecasts, especially concerning the use of computers. Calculations are illustrated using spreadsheet software (e.g., Microsoft Excel) and a statistical package (Minitab), with extra references to tools that can be found on the Internet. This book is supported by a complementary website at www.arnoldpublishers.com/support/nash, which contains exercises and the datasets used in the text.

The authors of this text have researched their ground thoroughly.
Short Book Reviews ( International Statistical Ins