Discussion Post 1:
Precisely forecasting future business possibilities is one of the most critical roles of management. Sales forecasts are essential for operations managers to prepare the precise expected levels of production. The financial managers need estimations of future sales revenue, disbursements, and capital expenditures. Forecasts of credit conditions must also be made to meet the company’s cash needs at the lowest possible cost (McGuigan, Moyer, & Harris, 2017).
An example of a product that exploded with an exponential increase in demand shortly after its introduction was the KFC 11 Herbs and Spices Firelog. This product made customers’ homes smell like fried chicken. The fireplace performs a crucial role in the holiday season, and the fried chicken scent causes people to want to eat fried chicken. The logs sold out in three hours (Bond, 2021).
Another example is the video streaming service’s success. According to Statista, the on-demand video streaming services revenue is projected to reach USD 71,237 million in 2021. Video streaming apps got attention when Netflix and Amazon Prime started leading this industry with their apps. Such apps have everything; flexibility, downloading, convenience, selecting favorites to add a pleasant experience to viewers’ lives (Purohit, 2021).
On the other hand, one of the most extensive product failures in recent years was the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. There were reports of explosions, battery overheating, and burns. It launched on August 19, 2016, but by early September, Samsung discontinued selling it. According to Time magazine, the brand issued a voluntary recall of the devices, during which they recalled 2.5 million units. Samsung substituted the Notes with new devices, but the issue continued. Samsung finished up losing $14.3 billion in investments. Unfortunately, even though Samsung stopped the Note 7, this issue permanently impacted the brand’s image (Barker, 2020).
In 2007, the Windows Vista operating system was everything its popular predecessor (Windows XP) was not in all negative ways. Moved by customers and IT experts alike, Vista reduced PC performance and produced several internet difficulties for users. As a result, Dell started offering Windows XP again on new laptops a few months after Vista was launched (Sauter, Comen, Frohlich & Stebbins, 2018).
Discussion Post 2:
Forecasting techniques are widely used in organizations. Forecasting models are used to predict the changes in business, such as sales, expenditures, profits and losses. The goal of business forecasting is to develop better strategies based on these informed predictions; helping to eliminate potential failure or losses before they happen. It is used by businesses to make informed decisions which are heavily data driven and can be used for almost any aspect in a business.
An example of a product with instant success would be the Streetwear brand Supreme. Supreme is one of the most sought after brand that has gained worldwide recognition due to their innovative designs and artist collaborations. It started of as a skating brand which changed and revolutionized the lifestyle industry by introducing skateboarding in to the world of fashion with designs worn by skateboarder on street. This was in high demand after launched in selected stores (Sullivan, 2017).
An example of a service that was an instant hit was Instacart. This service was introduced back in 2012 but it didn’t catch the attention it caught back in 2020 due to the pandemic. The pandemic affected the stores and its customers as no one was allowed to leave their houses during the lockdown, this is where the Instacart service came in to picture where the customers log in to the app and select the store they want to order their groceries from and place the order. The instacart team picks up the customer order from the store and deliver it to the customers door steps within a few hours. This was a great success during the lockdown and continues to be a great success even now that the stores have opened and are fully operational (IG Solutions, n.d.).
An example of a service with a very less dfemand is Wish. WIsh started off as an International service to deliver products to customers at the lowest possible prices. This was made possible due to the products being manufactured and shipped in China. This service was a huge disappointment in the US due to long shipping waits and the inferior quality of products. The demand reduced eventually. Wish is still in business due to its international benefeciaries and services.
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