RFID in the supply chain: lessons from European early adopters

Purpose Radio frequency identification (RFID) is increasingly being presented as a technology with the potential to improve supply chain performance, but empirical evidence from early adopters is sparse. This paper aims to rectify this scarcity and contribute to a more informed discussion in and between academic and practitioner communities. Design/Methodology/Approach The paper is based on a conceptual model of factors influencing the success of adoption efforts. It then reports the results of a survey of 612 European supply chain managers, focusing on the 128 respondents who have begun RFID trials. Findings A significant influence on operational deployment is the presence of mandates from key customers requiring the technology’s use. Customer mandates also impact the anticipated benefits of a faster sales cycle and of enhanced systems integration, though the relationships are complex. By contrast, greater cost reduction benefits are anticipated in two industries where mandates are less common – industrial goods and logistics. Perceived organizational innovativeness positively impacts anticipated ROI from RFID. Companies adopting a ‘slap and ship’ approach are less likely to anticipate pricing benefits than those integrating RFID into enterprise systems Research Limitations/Implications The limitations of the paper include the limited sample size of early adopters. In addition, qualitative research is needed into RFID supply chain applications and into different approaches to IS integration of RFID, to inform future survey work. Practical Implications This paper informs supply chain managers and senior decision makers who are examining the potential of RFID technology. It offers guidance on what issues to look for when adopting this technology, approaches to take and the benefits that might be accrued. Originality/Valuer This paper offers a major contribution to understanding the current status of the adoption of RFID in European supply chains. This understanding is put in the context of the wider literatures on supply chain management and the adoption of information systems and te

The impact of organisational culture on WiMax adoption by Saudi SMEs

Although there is some research that examines Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access (WiMax) adoption, the role of the organisational culture by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has not been studied in the context of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This paper presents the outcome of a study carried out to examine the impact of organisational culture on the WiMax adoption by SMEs in the KSA. Based on Cameron and Quinn's Organisational Culture Assessments Instrument (OCAI), 63 questionnaires were distributed to different SMEs in Saudi Arabia. The results showed that there is a relatively low level of WiMax adoption by Saudi SMEs. Findings stated that Saudi SMEs are dominated by the clan culture where people are less innovative than the people in adhocracy culture

Developing Senior Management Teams in Schools: Can Micropolitics Help?

While there is a vast body of literature that examines the role of the principal in schools, it has been only relatively recently that attention has focused on the working practices and relationships o f members in the Senior Management Team (SMT). This paper suggests that the study of micropolitics has potential for illuminating SMTs since it provides a lens to understand the dynamics of the team and the interactions and inter-relationships between and amongst their members. This micropolitical lens is concerned with how players use a variety of strategies such as power, coercion, cooperation, cooption and influence to obtain resources and achieve goals. This paper examines some of the recent research into SMTs and micropolitics and identifies five hey issues or pointers that may be linked to either facilitating or inhibiting the effective functioning of SMTs in schools. The set of issues provides a useful framework for members of SMTs to critically reflect upon as they seek to build shared purpose, cooperation and collaboration

The Mundane Computer: Non-Technical Design Challenges Facing Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence

Interdisciplinary collaboration, to include those who are not natural scientists, engineers and computer scientists, is inherent in the idea of ubiquitous computing, as formulated by Mark Weiser in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, ubiquitous computing has remained largely a computer science and engineering concept, and its non-technical side remains relatively underdeveloped. The aim of the article is, first, to clarify the kind of interdisciplinary collaboration envisaged by Weiser. Second, the difficulties of understanding the everyday and weaving ubiquitous technologies into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it, as conceived by Weiser, are explored. The contributions of Anne Galloway, Paul Dourish and Philip Agre to creating an understanding of everyday life relevant to the development of ubiquitous computing are discussed, focusing on the notions of performative practice, embodied interaction and contextualisation. Third, it is argued that with the shift to the notion of ambient intelligence, the larger scale socio-economic and socio-political dimensions of context become more explicit, in contrast to the focus on the smaller scale anthropological study of social (mainly workplace) practices inherent in the concept of ubiquitous computing. This can be seen in the adoption of the concept of ambient intelligence within the European Union and in the focus on rebalancing (personal) privacy protection and (state) security in the wake of 11 September 2001. Fourth, the importance of adopting a futures-oriented approach to discussing the issues arising from the notions of ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence is stressed, while the difficulty of trying to achieve societal foresight is acknowledged

Self-presentation and emotional contagion on Facebook: new experimental measures of profiles' emotional coherence

Social Networks allow users to self-present by sharing personal contents with others which may add comments. Recent studies highlighted how the emotions expressed in a post affect others' posts, eliciting a congruent emotion. So far, no studies have yet investigated the emotional coherence between wall posts and its comments. This research evaluated posts and comments mood of Facebook profiles, analyzing their linguistic features, and a measure to assess an excessive self-presentation was introduced. Two new experimental measures were built, describing the emotional loading (positive and negative) of posts and comments, and the mood correspondence between them was evaluated. The profiles "empathy", the mood coherence between post and comments, was used to investigate the relation between an excessive self-presentation and the emotional coherence of a profile. Participants publish a higher average number of posts with positive mood. To publish an emotional post corresponds to get more likes, comments and receive a coherent mood of comments, confirming the emotional contagion effect reported in literature. Finally, the more empathetic profiles are characterized by an excessive self-presentation, having more posts, and receiving more comments and likes. To publish emotional contents appears to be functional to receive more comments and likes, fulfilling needs of attention-seeking.Comment: Submitted to Complexit

Location-based and contextual mobile learning. A STELLAR Small-Scale Study

This study starts from several inputs that the partners have collected from previous and current running research projects and a workshop organised at the STELLAR Alpine Rendevous 2010. In the study, several steps have been taken, firstly a literature review and analysis of existing systems; secondly, mobile learning experts have been involved in a concept mapping study to identify the main challenges that can be solved via mobile learning; and thirdly, an identification of educational patterns based on these examples has been done. Out of this study the partners aim to develop an educational framework for contextual learning as a unifying approach in the field. Therefore one of our central research questions is: how can we investigate, theorise, model and support contextual learning

Past, present and future of information and knowledge sharing in the construction industry: Towards semantic service-based e-construction

The paper reviews product data technology initiatives in the construction sector and provides a synthesis of related ICT industry needs. A comparison between (a) the data centric characteristics of Product Data Technology (PDT) and (b) ontology with a focus on semantics, is given, highlighting the pros and cons of each approach. The paper advocates the migration from data-centric application integration to ontology-based business process support, and proposes inter-enterprise collaboration architectures and frameworks based on semantic services, underpinned by ontology-based knowledge structures. The paper discusses the main reasons behind the low industry take up of product data technology, and proposes a preliminary roadmap for the wide industry diffusion of the proposed approach. In this respect, the paper stresses the value of adopting alliance-based modes of operation