Title: E-forecasting: challenges and opportunities

Authors: Konstantinos Nikolopoulos, Kostas S. Metaxiotis, Vassilis Assimakopoulos

Addresses: Lancaster Centre for Forecasting, Department of Management Science, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster LA1 4YX, UK. ' Information Society, Ministry of Economy and Finance, 5–7 Nikis Str., 10180, Athens, Greece. ' Information Society, Ministry of Economy and Finance, 5–7 Nikis Str., 10180, Athens, Greece

Abstract: The major advantage of electronic markets over nonelectronic traditional market places is that trading partners use more sophisticated methods, rules and systems of information exchange. The internet has inevitably boosted this advantage over the last decade, making electronic markets the dominant |playing field| for various industrial and business activities. Forecasting is one of them; it is important to firms because it can help ensure that resources are used effectively. In the market there are a number of off-the-self system products that provide forecasts. The new trend of moving traditional software packages to web services has pushed forecasting to a new dimension – e-forecasting, as called by the authors. In this paper we explore the challenges and opportunities arising from e-forecasting. Two very fertile e-areas for possible application are discussed in detail: e-government and forecasting community portals.

Keywords: electronic markets; forecasting; internet; e-government; community portals; e-forecasting; e-business.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2006.008153

International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2006 Vol.8 No.1, pp.93 - 106

Published online: 21 Nov 2005 *

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