1. How accurate is Julie's naive forecasting model?
2. How does the naive model compare to the multiple regression model developed in Case 8-7?
3. Until Julie can experience each of these two methods in action, she is considering combining forecasts. She feels that this approach would counter office politics and still allow her to use a more scientific approach. Would this be a good idea?
4. Should Julie use a simple average or weighted average approach to combining the forecasts?
Example 1.1 described how Julie Ruth, the president of Alomega Food Stores, collected monthly sales data for her company along with several other variables she thought might be related to sales. The Alomega cases—Cases 2-3, 3-4, 5-6, and 8-7— described her attempts to use various forecasting procedures available in Minitab in an effort to produce meaningful forecasts of monthly sales.