Many Companies Today Employ a Sales Forecasting Manager or Sales

Multiple Choice

Many companies today employ a sales forecasting manager or sales planner to determine the sales forecasts for individual products. Forecasting managers may utilize Excel to perform _______________, where sales is the dependent variable and a variety of other factors such as company size, annual purchases, and number of years as a customer are the independent variables. Fastenal, a reseller of tools, fasteners, and other items required for manufacturers, relies on this sophisticated and mathematical approach to forecasting sales by first utilizing historical sales data incorporating a 10-year history of sales for each product category such as different brands of tools and supplies-nuts, bolts, screws, etc. The sales forecasting manager is then able to identify the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variables to determine an accurate sales forecast.

A) regression analysis
B) time series analysis
C) statistical demand analysis
D) sales force forecasting survey