Developing Essential Skills For Success In The Business World: A Look At Forecasting

Abstract

As the business environment evolves, the skills required for success in business careers are also evolving. A major purpose of the undergraduate business curriculum is to prepare students for their careers in this evolving business environment. Educators should periodically reassess the skills needed by business graduates and ensure that those skills are included in their undergraduate curricula. According to leaders in business and industry, one of the most important skills needed in today’s competitive business environment is the ability to use data to make projections and forecasts about the future. Unfortunately, forecasting skills currently receive limited attention in undergraduate business curricula. This paper addresses the limited attention given to forecasting skills and presents empirical evidence on the effect of providing students with forecasting instruction. One group of students was instructed on the use of certain quantitative forecasting skills and was asked to provide a forecast using a real world data set. Their results were compared to a control group that did not receive any instruction in forecasting methods. The results show that certain forecasting skills can be effectively taught in the university classroom and students can utilize these skills to make projections and forecasts about the future.