2 The degree of effort (and cost) to devote to forecasting is often a source of heated debate within organisations. This often comes down to two opposing arguments. One goes something like this.

‘It’s important for forecasts to be as accurate as possible. We cannot plan operations capacity otherwise’.

The counter-argument is very different. ‘Demand will always be uncertain, that is the nature of demand. Get used to it’. Discuss the relative merits of these two perspectives.