@inproceedings{8598582,
  abstract     = {{Supply chain management is increasingly performed at a global level. The decision process is often
based on tactical sales forecasts, which has been shown to benefit from including relevant exogenous
information. Leading indicators that cover different aspects of macroeconomic dynamics are
appealing in this context, as macroeconomic dynamics in target countries can affect companies end
markets. Even though this information can be beneficial on a tactical level, it remains unclear how this
information can impact sales forecasts at Stock-Keeping-Unit (SKU) product level, due to increased
levels of noise and products having differing demand patterns and dynamics, masking macro-effects.
Nonetheless, hierarchical forecasting can be used to reconcile macroeconomic leading indicators
from tactical level forecasts to detailed SKU levels, and vice versa. In this paper, we evaluate the
feasibility and benefits of merging tactical and operational forecasting, where higher level forecasts
include leading indicators, in contrast to univariate SKU operational predictions. We present a
framework that identifies automatically the most relevant leading indicators on global sales level, and
by exploiting the hierarchical product structure, carries this information to sales forecasts at SKU
product level. For our evaluation we rely on inventory metrics obtained from simulation experiments,
reflecting the associated supply chain risk.}},
  author       = {{Sagaert, Yves and Kourentzes, Nikolaos and De Vuyst, Stijn and Aghezzaf, El-Houssaine}},
  booktitle    = {{38th International Symposium on Forecasting, Abstracts}},
  issn         = {{1997-4124}},
  keywords     = {{Forecasting,Inventory,Supply Chain Management}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Boulder, Colorado}},
  pages        = {{78--78}},
  title        = {{The inventory impact of including macroeconomic leading indicators in global supply chain management}},
  url          = {{https://isf.forecasters.org/wp-content/uploads/ISF2018-Proceedings.pdf}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}