Michigan State University P lanning is a critical part of managing any business and especially a club. In order to meet the expectations of members, clubs must carefully plan. Failure to have an adequate supply of lobster available during an evening when lobster is featured and promoted will most likely result in more member dissatisfaction than is desired. Failure to adequately staff an event results in poor service and member dissatisfaction.
Proper forecasting is a first and very important step.
In this article the nature of forecasting is discussed, an overview of forecasting techniques is presented, and the results of the survey of managers of clubs regarding the forecasting techniques they use are presented and discussed. Nature of Forecasting Forecasting deals with the future. A forecast made today is for activity during a future period such as today's lunch sales or next year's green fees. The more distant the forecast period is from the time the forecast is made, the greater the difficulty in making the forecast and the greater the risk that the actual results will differ from the forecast. Second, forecasting involves uncertainty.