The Use of Fuzzy Logic and Expert Systems for Rating and Pricing Firms: A New Perspective on Valuation

Abstract

This paper presents an expert system aimed at evaluating firms and business units. It makes us of fuzzy logic and integrates financial, strategic, managerial aspects, processing both quantitative and qualitative information. Twenty-nine value drivers are explicitly taken into account and combined together via if-then rules to produce an output. The output is a real number in the interval [0,1], representing the value-creation power of the firm. The system may be used for rating, ranking and pricing firms as well as for assessing the impact of managers' decisions on value creation and as a tool of corporate governance.

Keywords: Firm valuation, fuzzy logic, expert system, acquisition, rating, pricing

JEL Classification: G34, G31, C88, M20