1. (a) Think of a product you have recently purchased. How many different forecasts do you think the retailer had to make in order to decide how much product to stock? (b) What are the consequences for that particular retailer if they had over forecast versus under forecast?
  2. Identify an example where large errors would be extremely costly. Which forecast error metric would be best for this environment?
  3. Identify the differences between the two methods of collaboration discussed in the chapter: CPFR and S&OP. How are they similar and how are they different? Explain the differences in the organizational objectives they are trying to achieve.
  4. The ABC Company sells computers. Monthly sales for a six-month period are as follows:
Month Sales
Jan 18,000
Feb 22,000
Mar 16,000
April 18,000
May 20,000
June 24,000

Compute the sales forecast for July using the following approaches:
(a) Mean
(b) Four month simple moving average
(c)  Exponential smoothing with an alpha smoothing constant = .70 and a June forecast of 22,000