Developing and Using Forecasting Models of Consumer Durables The Case of Color Television

Abstract Predicting the future sales of new and established products is a critical activity for companies to be able to plan and control their operations. Forecasting consumer durable sales is an especially difficult and challenging task since the market- place is always changing. Barry Bayus, Saman Hong and Russell Labe present the concept of a market-driven forecasting model and discuss an application involving the forecasting of color television industry sales for RCA's Consumer Electronics Division. An important aspect of this application is that a single approach or model was inadequate to accurately forecast sales over the entire period since the introduction of color TV. Econometric and simulation models which were developed are described, along with their forecasting performance and management acceptance and use.