Reflections of an International Forecaster

REFLECTIONS OF AN INTERNATIONAL FORECASTER By Sean Reese The issues that an international forecaster has to deal with are different from those of a domestic forecaster because of differences in culture, market characteristics, lead time, seasons and business arrangement … the forecaster has to keep an eye on all the events, which differ from country to country, but have an impact on forecasts … unusual spikes, caused very often by unexpected business expansions, are common in many foreign markets. Agram, a gram, it’s a little more than a raisin…About the same as a paper clip, now isn’t that amazin’? Remember that ditty from the Schoolhouse Rock® series on Saturday morning cartoons? If you do, you are probably in your thirties. It was during the Ford/Carter era that our government made a brief, abortive attempt to convert the United States citizenry to the metric system. Though my friends think I’m daffy, I think it was a good idea and wish that the initiative had succeeded. Metric is so much simpler. Working at a U.S. based company, and being in charge of forecasting for our international business, contending with metric conversion issues is all part of a day’s ...