Full Description
This title was first published in 2001. Forecasting is an essential discipline in the planning and running of a business: not only for the business plan and annual budget but for the appraisal of investment projects, the commissioning of research as well as the appraisal of the competition and the feasibility of making acquisitions. Managers are continually confronted with the need to take decisions, and being able to construct a route map of the future is a key way of determining a course of action. This book offers a practical guide to forecasting the environment in which a firm operates. The author goes through the key areas which can affect a business. He includes those which are out of the firm's control such as fiscal and monetary policy, population levels and the labour market; and those that are, such as costs, prices, profits and product development.
Contents
List of diagrams, List of tables, Foreword by Robert Heller, Introduction: the role of forecasting, PART 1. BEYOND THE FIRM'S CONTROL, 1. Forecasting the national economy, 2. Interest rates and government policy, 3. The global market, exchange rates and the balance of payments, 4. Global warming, energy and commodity prices, 5. Population, social trends and lifestyles, 6. Technical change, communications and education, 7. Spending power, profits and the market, PART 2. UNDER THE FIRM'S CONTROL, 8. Long-term strategy and investment, 9. Costs and prices, 10. Forecasting from a model of the business, 11. Forecasting profits, 12. Forecasting share prices, 13. The rules of forecasting, Bibliography, Index
