Mitigating Hi-tech products risks due to rapid technological innovation

The risks on international trade have increased continuously in recent years. One such risk for Hi-tech products is the result of rapid technological innovation, which results in a significant decline in the component cost, the selling price and the demand (due to newer products introduction). The Hi-tech products include computers and communication consumer products. From a practical viewpoint, there is a need to develop an innovative replenishing policy to consider the impact of the risk. In this paper, an economic order quantity model with finite planning horizon is developed for a buyer, when the component cost, the selling price and the demand rate of the end-consumer decline at a continuous rate. A numerical example and sensitivity analysis for two case studies are carried out to illustrate this model.