http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-20/bed-bath-and-beyond-tumbles-after-forecast-trails-estimates
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. forecasted less than analysts estimated for quarterly profits and in turn dropped in market shares. This is the most they have ever dropped since their first shares in 1992. Since store sales in the firsts quarter had risen, analysts projected a gain; however, the forecast was less than estimated causing a huge drop.
Some people think that forecasting is silly and some people think forecasting is something a company should live by. Clearly, Bed Bath & Beyond showed that forecasting is important and it’s important to do correctly. Forecasting helps companies in so many ways to project estimations for the future based on the past. Bed Bath & Beyond showed the errors that can occur within forecasting.
I think that it’s important for a company to forecast because otherwise they have nothing to base their decisions off of.
Obviously a company can over forecast or under forecast, which can cause problems for the company. Do you think it is better to under forecast or over forecast? Is forecasting even important? How could Bed Bath & Beyond have avoided this problem?