Well, the Penguin has been repositioned since the early 90s as less of a Supervillian and more of a themed gang-boss, almost. He's gone from oddly dressed themed thief to more of a 'Rick's Amercain' kind of guy.
He runs underground clubs, connects muscle to brains, fences stolen goods and generally sets himself up as an underworld 'go-to' guy. During No Man's Land, he survived and thrived quite happily. Since then, he spends more time selling stolen goods and performing illegal business services for other groups that he rarely places himself in any sort of danger. He certainly doesn't want Batman to punch him any more.
Which makes him one of the smartest supervillians in the DC Universe.