The Nerd Herd (TNH), a company that sends technicians to individuals' residences to fix problems with personal computers, has had considerable success in growing its business throughout the U.S. Upper Midwest region. Now TNH is looking for further expansion opportunities, and is considering whether to expand by opening offices in several large Canadian cities in the next year.
To evaluate this opportunity, TNH senior executives must make a forecast of demand for TNH services in these target markets over the next three to five years. TNH currently has a forecasting department that produces forecasts for short-term staffing (such as how many technicians should be scheduled in upcoming weeks) and intermediate-term expenditures (such as how many of the distinctive company cars should be leased for the upcoming year). However, the TNH senior executives are not sure that the techniques used to make forecasts such as these would be appropriate for the expansion decision needs.
The senior executives' forecast of demand for services must evaluate whether TNH should expand into target markets such as Winnipeg and Toronto. What technique(s) should the TNH forecasting department use to produce forecasts that would support this evaluation?