4
Forecasting and Planning
4.1 FORECASTING
Forecasting aims to project into the future; it is doing so either by foretelling coming events or by pre-analyzing the future impact of current decisions and acts. As the careful reader will recall, the latter is the main objective of business forecasting. It is, as well, the more successful of the two missions.
In a significant number of cases, this projection into the future is thought to be effective, but it is practically unavoidable that it is influenced by subjective judgment; and that it involves speculation. The perfect forecast has not yet been invented. But even though forecasts can never be as precise as a watch they can be valuable, particularly so if
• they reflect learned ...
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