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This paper discusses the target cost management(TCM) in the mobile communications industry.TCM is based on the theory of target management and is popular in the recent years.Target of cost(TOC) is the cost for a project or product delivery within a certain period of a specific project. TCM involves all the relevant activities such as TOC evaluation, decomposition,control and management,and audit.This paper is based on the basic concepts of TOC.Taking the X network rollout project(project X for short) in India,the author describes the whole TCM implementation from TOC evaluation,to TOC decompounds,and final implementation.The contract of project X has limited the total project price,for which TCM is the most suitable solution.In this project, the TCM is implemented in the bidding,project preparation,project implementation,and project acceptance processes,thereby to achieve the target cost step by step.In these processes,any cost deviation from the TOC is identified and the corresponding avoidance method can be found in the risk management database.In this way,each cost can be decomposed and analyzed against the risk management,and the overall cost deviation is controlled.The auditing of cost starts from the bottom cost items to the top overall cost.Besides the common cost management theories and public information of the company,the author also introduces a special information tool developed for TCM of project X based on the Visual Basic and Microsoft Excel applications.This tool is an integrated TOC management tool in Excel format.It compares the target cost and the actual cost,reflects the target accomplishment of each single material item and each project stage,TOC tendency,risk prediction and avoidance,and overall analysis and output,and thus greatly facilitates the phase cost auditing.Project X is a very successful TCM case and provides reference for other TCM project with a great value.
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