A Strategic Case for RFID: An Examination of Wal-Mart and its Supply-Chain

Although Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) implementation faces a host of challenges, Wal-Mart perseveres in its drive for RFID adoption throughout its supply chain. By being such early adopters of RFID, Wal-Mart’s suppliers suffer increased costs which put pressure to bear on their profitability. In the face of the additional costs of RFID, why has Wal-Mart chosen to mandate the use of RFID tagging in its supply chain and insisted on such a short implementation period? This paper reviews Wal-Mart’s relationship with its supply chain, describes Wal-Mart’s RFID initiative, and proposes a possible unexpressed motivation underlying Wal-Mart’s drive to go to RFID. Early results are indicating incremental improvements at Wal-Mart due to RFID implementation; however, the argument can be made that Wal-Mart’s ultimate goal is an innovative improvement on a Schumpeterian scale – the desire to radically improve an important supply chain metric, the cash-to-cash cycle. This reasoning supports fertile areas for future research in the relationship between RFID and the Cash-to-Cash Cycle

Empirical Evidence of RFID Impacts on Supply Chain Performance

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the actual benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) on supply chain performance through the empirical evidence. Design/methodology/approach - The research reviews and classifies the existing quantitative empirical evidence of RFID on supply chain performance. The evidence is classified by process (operational or managerial) and for each process by effect (automational, informational, and transformational). Findings - The empirical evidence shows that the major effects from the implementation of RFID are automational effects on operational processes followed by informational effects on managerial processes. The RFID implementation has not reached transformational level on either operational or managerial processes. RFID has an automational effect on operational processes through inventory control and efficiency improvements. An informational effect for managerial processes is observed for improved decision quality, production control and the effectiveness of retail sales and promotions coordination. In addition, a three-stage model is proposed to explain the effects of RFID on the supply chain. Research limitations/implications - Limitations of this research include the use of secondary sources and the lack of consistency in performance measure definitions. Future research could focus on detailed case studies that investigate cross-functional applications across the organization and the supply chain. Practical implications - For managers, the empirical evidence presented can help them identify implementation areas where RFID can have the greatest impact. The data can be used to build the business case for RFID and therefore better estimate ROI and the payback period. Originality/value - This research fills a void in the literature by providing practitioners and researchers with a better understanding of the quantitative benefits of RFID in the supply chain

The design with intent method: A design tool for influencing user behaviour

The official published version can be found at the link below.Using product and system design to influence user behaviour offers potential for improving performance and reducing user error, yet little guidance is available at the concept generation stage for design teams briefed with influencing user behaviour. This article presents the Design with Intent Method, an innovation tool for designers working in this area, illustrated via application to an everyday human–technology interaction problem: reducing the likelihood of a customer leaving his or her card in an automatic teller machine. The example application results in a range of feasible design concepts which are comparable to existing developments in ATM design, demonstrating that the method has potential for development and application as part of a user-centred design process

A sector analysis for RFID technologies: fundamental and technical analysis for financial decision making problems

Automatic identification technologies have been used in a wide range of applications for reducing the amount of time and labor needed to input data and improving data accuracy. As an important automatic identification technology, radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies allow contactless reading and these technologies are particularly successful in manufacturing and other environments where traditional identification technologies such as bar codes can not perform well. By integrating the RFID technology into their business models, companies may save time, lower labor cost, improve products quality and provide better service. RFID is the wireless technology that uses RF communication to identify, track and manage objects and collect and store data. RFID technology enables companies to develop applications that create value by tracking and identifying objects, animals or people. Business applications of RFID technology can be seen in areas such as manufacturing, supply chain management, software integration, security systems, asset tracking and many others. RFID technology was predicted to be one of the “top ten” technologies in 2004 by CNN. Although, the RFID market is less than five years old, it has been applied to many different industries, from retail industry to logistics, or from healthcare to service business industry – and it is still growing. Particularly, RFID has fundamental influences on today's retailing and supply chain management for applications like asset tracking the inventory control and management. RFID technology also finds major application in mobile phones and is widely used in toll collection of highways, for payments in restaurants, vending machines, retail and parking lots. There are a wide range of RFID systems currently being used or being developed. Examples to these systems include but not limited to the following; automatic vehicle and personnel access control for security (Simpson, 2006), airport passenger and baggage tracking (Ferguson, 2006), tracing blood for cutting down errors such as giving patients wrong blood types (Ranger, 2006), payment process systems (Ramachandran, 2006), production control in manufacturing (Liu & Miao, 2006), transfusion medicine (Knels, 2006) real-time inventory control by automated identification of items in warehouses, tracking and management of physical files, tracking of books in the libraries (Shadid, 2005). For some other applications, interested reader is referred to (Finkenzeller, 2003; Smith, 2004). RFID solution providers claim that their technology and solutions bring significant benefits and have valuable advantages in practice. As new RFID solutions being developed and more RFID tags and equipments being used, these solutions will become more cost effective and RFID businesses are expected to grow rapidly. Since RFID is fairly new, it’s difficult to measure resulting sales increases or heightened customer satisfaction quotients. On the other hand, according to IDC estimation (IDC is a subsidiary of International Data Group, a leading technology media, research, and events company and provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets), companies in the retail sector will spend nearly $1.3 billion on RFID in their supply chain operations in 2008, compared to about$91.5 million in 2003 which corresponds to annual growth rate of 70 percent. In a similar look; the Wireless Data Research Group projected that the global market for RFID increased from $1 billion in 2003 to$3 billion in 2007 (Asif & Mandviwalla, 2005). There are two major drivers of this growth. The first one is the adoption of RFID technology by major retailers and government agencies. The second one is the reduction in the price of RFID tags, readers, and IT systems required to deploy RFID. Given the huge potential of RFID technology, there has been a huge emergence of RFID specialty companies and the development of RFID practices within many market-leading companies. Due to huge emergence, it is desirable to make a sector analysis. In this study, we perform a sector analysis for RFID technologies for researchers and analysts. We investigate public RFID companies traded on the stock exchange markets, summarize their financial performance, describe their RF products, services, and applications, and perform fundamental and technical analysis

Internet of Things and Their Coming Perspectives: A Real Options Approach

Internet of things is developing at a dizzying rate, and companies are forced to implement it in order to maintain their operational efficiency. The high flexibility inherent to these technologies makes it necessary to apply an appropriate measure, which properly assesses risks and rewards. Real options methodology is available as a tool which fits the conditions, both economic and strategic, under which investment in internet of things technologies is developed. The contribution of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it offers an adequate tool to assess the strategic value of investment in internet of things technologies. On the other hand, it tries to raise awareness among managers of internet of things technologies because of their potential to contribute to economic and social progress. The results of the research described in this paper highlight the importance of taking action as quickly as possible if companies want to obtain the best possible performance. In order to enhance the understanding of internet of things technologies investment, this paper provides a methodology to assess the implementation of internet of things technologies by using the real options approach; in particular, the option to expand has been proposed for use in the decision-making process

Hubungan antara amalan pengurusan rantaian bekalan hijau (GSCM) dan prestasi rantaian bekalan di sektor pembuatan, Batu Pahat, Johor

Pola pertumbuhan ekonomi telah meningkatkan tahap penggunaan tenaga dan bahan-bahan dan memberi kesan kepada kemampanan alam sekitar. Kemakmuran ekonomi bagi penduduk bandar yang lebih besar, lebih banyak membawa kepada pembaziran pengeluaran. Hal ini berlaku kerana penghasilan sisa dipengaruhi oleh proses perindustrian. Sisa dari sektor pembuatan boleh mendatangkan ancaman terhadap bekalan air, kesihatan awam dan alam sekitar melalui penyebaran bakteria lalu mengakibatkan pencemaran sumber air. Air yang tercemar mungkin mengandungi kepekatan bahan-bahan pencemaran yang tinggi yang dihasilkan oleh kilang-kilang dan akan datang kembali kepada pengguna melalui kitaran air sebagai sumber utama untuk kegunaan harian. Oleh itu, pengguna terdedah kepada pelbagai penyakit dan sekali gus boleh menjejaskan tahap kesihatan mereka (Khairul, Rahman & Ho, 2011). Isu alam persekitaran merupakan isu yang kian mencabar kepada organisasi perniagaan pada masa kini. Pemanasan global, pengurangan kualiti udara dan pencemaran air merupakan beberapa contoh kesan alam sekitar yang boleh dikaitkan dengan aktiviti yang selaras dengan rantaian bekalan organisasi. Pada 9 April 2009, Perdana Menteri telah mengumumkan pembentukan Kementerian Tenaga, Teknologi Hijau dan Air (KeTTHA) bagi menggantikan Kementerian Tenaga, Air dan Komunikasi. Teknologi Hijau merujuk kepada pembangunan dan aplikasi produk, peralatan serta sistem untuk memelihara alam sekitar dan alam semulajadi dan meminimumkan atau mengurangkan kesan negatif daripada aktiviti manusia

Product life cycle information management in the electronics supply chain

Information availability and data transparency are key requirements from manufacturers when supporting products throughout the life cycle, for example when implementing product service systems. The application of embedded wireless technologies into printed circuit boards (PCBs) can help bridging current knowledge gaps and to minimise both technical and financial risk through reduced product downtime, improved quality of tracking and enhanced end-of-life decision making. The application of embedded RFID into PCBs for life cycle monitoring of electronic products to support Product Service Systems is discussed in this paper

Drivers and Impacts of R&D Adoption on Transport and Logistics Services

Actually, technologies and applications in industries are changing via business restructuring, new business models, new knowledge and supply chains. So R&D is not focused primarily on manufacturing industry as it used to be, but on different kinds of industries as logistics and transport (TLS). Nevertheless, the characteristics of the TLS industry determine the introduction of specific R&D solutions accordingly to sectors operations. The objective of this paper is to describe the R&D opportunities in the TLS industry and how managers use them to make their businesses more innovative and efficient. Using the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) model the paper identifies the links between R&D adoption and innovation dynamics. Relating the findings, on the driver’s side there are three points that are worth mentioning: increasing market competition, the relationships of firms interacting with each other and the availability and quality of complementary assets such as employee skills and IT know-how. On the impacts’ side, firms advanced in terms of implementing R&D solutions are more likely to implement organizational changes. Finally, a set of recommendations on how to further improve the continuous innovation in the TLS industry is presented

A taxonomy of logistics innovations

In this paper we present a taxonomy of supply chain and logistics innovations, which is based on an extensive literature survey. Our primary goal is to provide guidelines for choosing the most appropriate innovations for a company, such that the company can outrun its competitors. We investigate the factors, both internal and external to the company, that determine the applicability and effectiveness of the listed innovations. We support our suggestions with real world cases reported in literature