MULTI-COUNTRY DEMAND FORECASTING FOR A COMPANY IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR, BASED ON EXTERNAL MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES EXTRACTED FROM OPEN DATA SOURCES

Abstract

Demand forecasting is a very important feature in companies since it provides valuable information for taking decisions about planning, pricing and business growth strategies. In this paper, multi-country demand forecasting for a company of the construction industry is carried out. In the case study, we analyze different external variables from open data sources of each country in order to reduce uncertainty in demand forecasting. The analysis is carried out with different univariate and multivariate methods. The results show how the consideration of external variables improves the forecasts. Finally, forecasts of different kinds of demand are evaluated using Syntetos, Boylan and Croston classification methodology. Key words: Demand forecasting, forecast models, multivariate methods, accuracy indicators