Business Forecasting and Student CD Package (8th Edition) [Hardcover]

John E. Hanke (Author), Dean W. Wichern (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131073850 | ISBN-13: 978-0131073852 | Publication Date: January 16, 2004 | Edition: 8

The eighth edition of Business Forecasting presents basic statistical techniques that are useful for preparing individual business forecasts and long-range plans. Written in a simple, straightforward style and making extensive use of practical business examples, the book includes fifty-three cases that provide readers with the necessary link between theoretical concepts and their real-world applications. Readers should have a basic knowledge of statistics and be familiar with computer applications such as word processing and spreadsheets. The book first presents background material such as the nature of forecasting and a quick review of basic statistical concepts; proceeds with the exploration of data patterns and choosing a forecasting technique; covers averaging the smoothing techniques and time series decomposition; emphasizes causal forecasting techniques such as correlation, regression, and multiple regression analysis; and concludes with judgmental forecasting and forecast adjustments. Useful as a reference for professionals with titles such as: forecasting manager, marketing manager, production manager, and analyst.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This top selling text presents, in a straightforward, application-driven manner, the basic statistical techniques that are useful for preparing individual business forecasts and long-range plans. The emphasis is on the application of techniques by management for decision-making. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

Managerial decision-making in approach, this book explores the basic statistical techniques that are useful for preparing individual business forecasts and long-range plans. Incorporates instructions on using Excel spreadsheets and the statistical package MINITAB to forecast, along with their appropriate output. Organizing Data and a Review of Statistical Concepts. Exploring Data Patterns and Choosing a Forecasting Technique. Moving Averages and Smoothing Methods. Time Series Analysis. Regression Analysis. Multiple Regression. Regression with Time Series Data. The Box-Jenkins (ARIMA) Methodology. Judgmental Forecasting and Other Forecasting Methods. Managing the Forecasting Process. For business managers interested in business forecasting techniques. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 535 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 8 edition (January 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131073850
• ISBN-13: 978-0131073852
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,385,753 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good text, but frustrating., April 10, 2006

By 

A Graduate Student (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business Forecasting and Student CD Package (8th Edition) (Hardcover)

The book presents the topic of forecasting in good, methodical way with examples and illustrations from Minitab. It the book also illustrates the procedures on how to work with Minitab.

However, it appears the book may not have been updated for the changes in the Minitab software. As such, trying to replicate the tables and output illustrated in the book is very frustrating. As a student trying to learn the basics of forecasting, it is not possible to tell what errors are mine versus being due to differences in the software.

The supporting student website only contains data sets. An update to the tables and exhibits at the website would be helpful, as well as mentioning the existence of the website more than is currently done in the text.

Other than the frustration caused by the tables and printouts not exactly matching the current Minitab printouts, it is a good, understandable text that would have rated a 5.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars frustrating, July 8, 2006

By 

R Smith "R Smith" (chicago, il) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business Forecasting and Student CD Package (8th Edition) (Hardcover)

I bought this book to do forecasting for work. The authors' names looked familiar, but I thought maybe an obscure article or footnote was the reason. Then, after going through this book, I realized the reason - Wichern is the same guy who wrote the utterly confusing, frustrating, and represensible Multivariate textbook myself and fellow graduate students were subjected to (and promptly ignored in favor of better books on the subject).

This book is a perfect example of why textbooks suck - professors get tenure by publishing and other professors do the evaluation. Learning or effectiveness never comes into the equation. So, as a book for impressing other professors, this book is a huge success. But as a book for actually learning how to do forecasting, it is an utter failure.

With the advent of the internet, there is better information about this subject on-line (like Wikipedia), written for people who do real work. I gave it two stars only because it is a moderately useful reference.

5.0 out of 5 stars Business Forecasting, December 29, 2011

By 

Vince B. (Outside Philly, PA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Business Forecasting (9th Edition) (Paperback)

This was a required text for a class I was taking. It seemed to flow pretty well for the amount we used it. If I recall correctly, we did a lot of the problems in the back of the book which seemed to be fairly well explained/supported in the related chapters.