all
marketers were asking themselves whether a new age of prudence
and frugality had emerged and, if so, what would be the appropriate
response.
Collecting Information
and Forecasting Demand
67
Firms are adjusting the way they do business for more
reasons than just the economy. Virtually every industry has been
touched by dramatic shifts in the technological, demographic,
social-cultural, natural, and political-legal environments. In this
chapter, we consider how firms can develop processes to identify
and track important macroenvironment trends. We also outline
how marketers can develop good sales forecasts. Chapter 4 will
review how they conduct more customized research on specific
marketing