Organizational factors in sales forecasting management

Over the past three decades, significant advances have been made in developing sales forecasting techniques that more accurately reflect marketplace conditions. However, surveys of sales forecasting practice continue to report only marginal gains in sales forecasting performance. This gap between theory and practice has been identified as a significant issue for sales forecasting research. The forecasting literature suggests that the issue should be addressed by examining organizational factors in sales forecasting management. In this paper, we propose a theory-based framework of organizational factors in sales forecasting management that integrates research on organizational climate, organizational capabilities, organizational learning and sales forecasting. Empirical evidence of the fit between sales forecasting practice and the conceptual framework is provided by a content analysis of interview texts from an extensive field study of sales forecasting management that involved 516 practitioners at 18 global manufacturing firms.