11 answers
Tsz Ho
Student
Hong Kong
4
Questions
Asked
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Which position in a company is responsible for doing market forecasting?
I am a economics and finance student and realise that my knowledge from school can be applied in the field of market forecasting. However, I am not sure about which position in a company is responsible for doing forecasting and maybe pricing as well. Right now I am a university student, I also wanna know how should I plan my career in order to get into that field. Thanks! #finance #business #marketing #forecasting #job #internship
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11 answers
Nikki Aquino
Financial Analyst
16
Answers
Rolling Meadows, Illinois
Updated
Nikki’s Answer
Forecasting can fall into finance, marketing and in some companies, sales operations. In finance, financial forecasting will typically be the responsibility of the Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) team. FP&A is typically tasked with providing a revenue and expense forecast for future months. And to build a revenue and expense forecast, FP&A will need to understand market drivers that impact financial performance.
In some companies, marketing owns forecasting customer growth and/or decline which the FP&A team will then use as inputs for their financial forecasts. Sales operations may have a team that does sales forecasting in a more granular level, such as daily or weekly, to measure how their sales teams are performing against their sales targets.
FP&A analyst, market insights analyst and sales analyst are some of the positions that will give you exposure to forecasting.
In some companies, marketing owns forecasting customer growth and/or decline which the FP&A team will then use as inputs for their financial forecasts. Sales operations may have a team that does sales forecasting in a more granular level, such as daily or weekly, to measure how their sales teams are performing against their sales targets.
FP&A analyst, market insights analyst and sales analyst are some of the positions that will give you exposure to forecasting.
Jitendriya Athavale
Manager
3
Answers
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Updated
Jitendriya’s Answer
Connect with your alumni/seniors. Understand what sort of jobs they got into and what they do.
Look for a summer internship in this area to get more exposure and increase your understanding of the job.
Your university might have a counsellor in this area. You should probably speak to one so that you understand more about the work involved in these kind of jobs
Here are few options but i think there can be lot more.
1. Business analyst
2. Product management
3. Financial Analyst
Look for a summer internship in this area to get more exposure and increase your understanding of the job.
Your university might have a counsellor in this area. You should probably speak to one so that you understand more about the work involved in these kind of jobs
Here are few options but i think there can be lot more.
1. Business analyst
2. Product management
3. Financial Analyst
Justina Grebe
Finance
18
Answers
Aurora, Colorado
Updated
Justina’s Answer
This depends on the company. You might have a department that is responsible for pricing, forecasting, and then another department responsible for marketing, and sometime the departments have to work together to provide the best analysis/ recommendation based on the project.
I would recommend finding an internship/ volunteer opportunity, and depending on the company you will get an understanding of how the responsibilities are handled within the different departments or maybe it’s just one team responsible.
I would recommend finding an internship/ volunteer opportunity, and depending on the company you will get an understanding of how the responsibilities are handled within the different departments or maybe it’s just one team responsible.
Terence Cheung
Business Operations
78
Answers
San Francisco, California
Updated
Terence’s Answer
Which position in a company is responsible for doing market forecasting?
"Market forecasting" can fall into a number of roles within a company. As mentioned in other posts, forecasting is required by virtually every organization within a company - marketing, sales, customer experience, finance, business development, product management. In any data driven company, decisions require data driven insights to provide context. You could be driving sales forecasts, or "total addressable market" (TAM) for the business development/strategy teams, or customer contact volumes for the customer experience teams.
Generalized, it's basically "we want to do X, what is the opportunity and how much of that opportunity can we capture?". The "opportunity" is something like the TAM. You would need forecasting and modeling to understand what the TAM is, say it's $1,000,000 annually. You would also need modeling and forecasting to predict what your potential is in that TAM, say it's 75% or $750,000. You'd also have to layer in assumptions and requirements to refine the forecast.
In all of these teams, there is a need to predict what the coming year(s) will look like, based off of the past and the market factors and business layers. Data modeling and forecasting is a very flexible and important area within companies. The key is to have sound fundamentals in the numbers side (ex. MoM , QoQ, or YoY regression methods), with the ability to blend in factors outside of the math (changes in the business model, new product releases, new product features), macro factors (changes in the industry, regional/geo changes). Building clean models and adjusting them to the needs of the business are a key tool to working through major business decisions. Having the expertise to build these models are great skills to bring to the table.
"Market forecasting" can fall into a number of roles within a company. As mentioned in other posts, forecasting is required by virtually every organization within a company - marketing, sales, customer experience, finance, business development, product management. In any data driven company, decisions require data driven insights to provide context. You could be driving sales forecasts, or "total addressable market" (TAM) for the business development/strategy teams, or customer contact volumes for the customer experience teams.
Generalized, it's basically "we want to do X, what is the opportunity and how much of that opportunity can we capture?". The "opportunity" is something like the TAM. You would need forecasting and modeling to understand what the TAM is, say it's $1,000,000 annually. You would also need modeling and forecasting to predict what your potential is in that TAM, say it's 75% or $750,000. You'd also have to layer in assumptions and requirements to refine the forecast.
In all of these teams, there is a need to predict what the coming year(s) will look like, based off of the past and the market factors and business layers. Data modeling and forecasting is a very flexible and important area within companies. The key is to have sound fundamentals in the numbers side (ex. MoM , QoQ, or YoY regression methods), with the ability to blend in factors outside of the math (changes in the business model, new product releases, new product features), macro factors (changes in the industry, regional/geo changes). Building clean models and adjusting them to the needs of the business are a key tool to working through major business decisions. Having the expertise to build these models are great skills to bring to the table.
Anoosheh (Anna) Wali (MBA, BS)
Contract Administrator
7
Answers
Fairfax, Virginia
Updated
Anoosheh (Anna)’s Answer
It could vary from company to company but I believe most commonly it is done in the economics department of a company,
Sandesh Ballikar
Enterprise Architect
13
Answers
Ashburn, Virginia
Updated
Sandesh’s Answer
If you are forecasting market conditions, evolving market landscape, future market scenarios, it has to be Marketing department. If you are forecasting sales, capital requirements, budget then its Finance dept.
Nadia Ramharakh
Director, FP&A
5
Answers
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Updated
Nadia’s Answer
As mentioned in other answers, it depends on the company and sometimes the industry. But this can fall in the Finance Department or in another like Marketing or Sales. In some Companies there is a specific team that focuses on forecasting, both from a run rate perspective and from net new business potential.
John Greenwood, MBA
Strategy Director
57
Answers
Dallas, Texas
Updated
John’s Answer
hey Tsz Ho,
At different companies, this could be handled by different departments. With forecasting and pricing, often finance and marketing are both involved. What I would recommend doing is focus on which companies you are interested in and then talk to people at those companies about which departments handle those responsibilities in those companies.
As you are looking at internships and jobs, focus on what skills you want to develop and then you will be able to articulate your vision for what you want to do no matter what the title or department may be.
If you are looking to pursue a career in these categories, I would recommend learning as much as you can about finance AND marketing since the two are intertwined at this point. Understand the numbers AND the people involved. A good way to get some experience would be through internships. Look for pricing and forecasting opportunities at different companies you are interested in. Connect with alumni from your school who currently work in that sector.
Best of luck to you!
John
At different companies, this could be handled by different departments. With forecasting and pricing, often finance and marketing are both involved. What I would recommend doing is focus on which companies you are interested in and then talk to people at those companies about which departments handle those responsibilities in those companies.
As you are looking at internships and jobs, focus on what skills you want to develop and then you will be able to articulate your vision for what you want to do no matter what the title or department may be.
If you are looking to pursue a career in these categories, I would recommend learning as much as you can about finance AND marketing since the two are intertwined at this point. Understand the numbers AND the people involved. A good way to get some experience would be through internships. Look for pricing and forecasting opportunities at different companies you are interested in. Connect with alumni from your school who currently work in that sector.
Best of luck to you!
John
chiara p
Business Developer
13
Answers
Los Angeles, California
Updated
chiara’s Answer
Hi there, the specific positions would be either, a market analyst, or business strategist.... either way exciting career choices!
Erin Koepke
Finance
6
Answers
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Updated
Erin’s Answer
Agree with some other answers to this question - typically I would say it's a combination of inputs to a market forecast - but the marketing team has a lot of great insight, along with Finance and the Sales org. Forecasting is a huge part of any large business, so management is typically looking for a lot of inputs and views to help try to get the most educated forecast and consider as many factors as possible.
I would say that Finance a lot of times is the gatekeeper of a forecast, since it is a financial forecast, but the fun part is working with the other teams to learn and gather the inputs necessary.
I would say that Finance a lot of times is the gatekeeper of a forecast, since it is a financial forecast, but the fun part is working with the other teams to learn and gather the inputs necessary.
Brittany Joiner
Marketing
11
Answers
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Updated
Brittany’s Answer
Depends on the company, but sometimes it's a marketing analytics department, and sometimes it's part of the sales department. Sometimes it's a group effort between both teams!