A flexible way of modeling the long-term cost competitiveness of a semiconductor product

Cost competitiveness has received ever-growing attention in the era of globalization. However, the definition and measurement of cost competitiveness has not been sufficiently explored. For these reasons, a flexible approach is proposed in this study to assess the long-term cost competitiveness of a product. First, a fuzzy collaborative intelligence approach is applied to estimate the unit cost. The midterm cost competitiveness of the product is then assessed by comparing the estimated unit cost with the competitive region. The assessment result is expressed with a less restrictive shape and is therefore more flexible than assessments from the traditional methods. Subsequently, the long-term cost competitiveness is derived by observing the trend in the medium term. After the proposed methodology had been applied to a practical example, several valuable results were obtained; these successes indicate this method to be a viable strategy in planning related activities. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.