Abstract
New product sales forecast is a difficult but essential task for companies, as it drives a variety of multifunctional decisions. Most new product forecasting literature presents sophisticated statistical techniques and complex methodologies with little or no thought given to ease of implementation. As a result, there is a significant gap between what forecast academics create and what forecast models professionals really seek. This study proposes a new product sales forecast model based on an Analytic Network Process framework. The analytic network process (ANP) is a multicriteria decision analysis technique that takes into account both tangible and intangible criteria with interdependencies and feedback among them. It is argued that the proposed framework is more flexible and is more comprehensive than traditional methods and previously developed models. The ANP model is illustrated through a real example concerning the sales forecast of a new edition (book).
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The authors would like to express sincere gratitude to all those managers and employees of the HESTIA publishing house who provided valuable time and information for the research.
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Voulgaridou, D., Kirytopoulos, K. & Leopoulos, V. An analytic network process approach for sales forecasting. Oper Res Int J 9, 35–53 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-008-0026-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-008-0026-2