Marketers of all stripes are often tasked with forecasting–sales for next quarter or year, inventory levels to meet demand, or marketing budget to meet corporate goals. However, the process of forecasting is often rife with bias, data quality issues, mathematical error, and/or poor planning…
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Monday, February 9, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Is Inventory Still Evil?
“Inventory is bad, inventory is evil,” finance and operations professors intone across business schools worldwide. And every B-school graduate knows companies should balance enough inventory to meet customer needs while accommodating shifting preferences. That said, companies face a paradox;…
Continue reading "Is Inventory Still Evil?"Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Can Mathematical Modeling Be Trusted?
Mathematical modeling is helping companies across the globe forecast more accurately, optimize supply chains, assess risk, and keep customers from churning to competitors. However, recent market conditions (i.e. credit crisis) have shown that while models can provide an “air of certainty”, solely…
Continue reading "Can Mathematical Modeling Be Trusted?"Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Is the Speed of Decision Making Accelerating?
As the forces of globalization continue to connect and intertwine commercial and financial markets, and new technologies come online in the marketplace, the time between “event” and “action” is rapidly closing.
In the past, managers could take weeks or days to make important decisions, however …
Continue reading "Is the Speed of Decision Making Accelerating?"Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Are Marketing and Mathematics Getting Married?
Think marketing doesn’t have much to do with mathematics? An unseen mathematical world is giving some companies a competitive edge in better understanding customers. Indeed, companies across all industries are now capturing data and creating rich profiles of customers to “predict” their wants, needs…
Continue reading "Are Marketing and Mathematics Getting Married?"Monday, October 15, 2007
The Impact of Moore’s Law on Marketing
Moore’s Law, which essentially states that the processing speed of an integrated circuit doubles every 18-24 months, will have a significant impact on marketing in the 21st century. However, for this impact to occur, marketers must make use of today’s technology–and prepare for the technology…
Continue reading "The Impact of Moore’s Law on Marketing"Friday, September 14, 2007
The Perils Of Intuition
A hotel manager looks out in the lobby and notices a guest with a Hermes tie. Another is carrying a Prada handbag. In an instant and through “the power of the glance,” the hotelier decides these folks “look right” and are worth giving special attention. Unfortunately, this hotelier has probably just…
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