The Walt Disney Company had sales over the period 1981 through 1990 as follows: Y ear Sales (in

The Walt Disney Company had sales over the period 1981 through

1990 as follows:

Y ear	Sales (in millions)	Y ear	Sales (in millions)
1981	$1,005	1986	$2,471
1982	1,030	1987	2,877
1983	1,307	1988	3,438
1984	1,656	1989	4,594
1985	2,015	1990	5,844

a. Looking at the trend of Disney’s sales over this period, what sales do you predict for 1991? 1992?

b. What factors do you consider important in predicting Disney’s future sales?

c. Disney had the following results for the years 1991 through 1997:

Y ear	Sales (in millions)
1991	$6,182
1992	7,504
1993	8,529
1994	10,055
1995	12,112
1996	21,238
1997	22,473

How do these amounts differ from those you predicted based on the

1981–1990 data? Is this rate of growth in the later period different from the rate of growth in the earlier (1981–1990) period? What company-specific events explain the changes in the growth in sales?