Question

1- What are the various qualitative forecasting methods as discussed in Chapter-3, describe them in detail. Can you identify some other qualitative forecasting methods in addition to what is mentioned in the textbook?

2- How is service design different from design of physical products? What are the phases of a service design process? What characteristics make it a well-designed service system? What challenges do you see in designing services?

Answer 1

1. Managers in a company use the forecasting methods to predict the future budgeting purposes, and processes. The forecasting process helps the company to know the inventory needs and the subsequent working capital requirements. There are four types of primary qualitative forecasting methods: Executive opinions, Delphi Technique, SalesForce Polling, and Consumers surveys. The first method is the executive opinions. The experts give their opinions from the data and information. The experts have more knowledge on a subject than the layman. The second method is the Delphi technique. It is similar to the executive opinion method, but it involves an interactive talk between the pane of experts and the researcher. It is a method of surveying the experts using the questionnaire. The following method is SalesForce Polling. The method helps the managers to forecast the sales revenue of the company. It is a method of forecasting non-economic variables. The latter method is Consumer surveys. Surveys include questionnaires about the particular area. It helps to get the feedback and adopt improvements.

2. Service design is a method that involves designing the service in such a manner that satisfies the consumers. On the other hand, designing the product includes making tangible goods to satisfy the consumers. The difference is the nature of the commodity. Services are intangible, whereas Goods are tangible. There are four phases in the service design process: Align, Research, Ideate, and Prototype. The first step is to align the resources in designing the service. The second step is to research. The process includes researching the feasibility of the project or design. The third step is to ideate. The managers finalize the idea of the service. The latter method is the prototype. It means that the managers and authorities implement the design in the said services. The last step also includes taking corrective actions. A well-designed system includes more efficiency and productivity at a lower cost. It also sustainably uses the resources so that there is no impact on future generation availability. All the processes face challenges in one way or the other. The first challenge is the increasing costs. The redesigning of a service might invite increased costs that might also increase the prices of the product. Hence, it also leads to dissatisfaction with the stakeholders.