Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) As A Competitive Advantage in Supply Chain Management

The concept of supply chain management has been done since prehistoric times. It has evolved over time with the optimization in manufacturing technologies. In today’s business climate, it is a standard operating practice that companies are continually trying to perfect in order to be more competitive. Supply chain management is far from perfect; there are still many issues, inefficiencies, and challenges that must be resolved. The current issues include uncertainties of process, supply, demand, or control. The use of radio frequency identification (RFID) is an established technology that is finding a new use within supply chain management. An RFID tag can transmit its information via radio waves when queried by a tag reader. When assembled onto a product, case, pallet, or container, this information can provide visibility to a company’s inventory system. This visibility can be extended throughout the supply chain. Since RFID tags do not need line-of-sight or contact, it can also be automated and provide benefits such as labor efficiencies, error reduction, labor savings, accurate asset tracking, and proactive stock management. Research was done through literature review of articles, websites, and white papers. Various examples demonstrated operational savings from the use of RFID within a supply chain. The variety of pilot studies and proposed implementations showed unlimited applications within supply chain management. The use of RFID in the supply chain is still in its infancy. There is a push by retailers and agencies to have the technology used. The use of RFID in supply chain management is not the cure for all the issues that a business may have. There is specific customization of the application as defined by business needs. The use of RFID in supply chain management still has future strategies that are currently unknown. Over the next decade, RFID will proliferate the supply chain due to usage maturity, decreasing tag prices, and better understanding of the technology. Note: The presentation associated with this report is included here as a supplemental file

Capstone Project: Transportation Division, at Multnomah County, Oregon

This paper studies the general management of the division of transportation at Multnomah County in general and focuses on project management of construction of a new bridge at Sauvie Island and the Bike Lane project for the Morrison Bridge

A Multi-criteria Phased Methodology for Personnel Selection

Many surveys say that the number one issue facing businesses is finding and keeping . good employees [8]. As the national turnover rate for all companies approaches 12 (t~ · percent, it is obvious that hiring decisions can be extremely costly to the national economy. Turnover disrupts teams, raises hiring costs and results in lost knowledge. To add to the economic pressure of making a good hiring decision, many personnel selection decisions often come in the form of a group decision making process. In a time where cross-functional teams are almost an expectation for any technical position, there are typically several decision-makers or interviewers that need to work together to make a final decision of extending a job offer. While groups have many advantages over the individual in other arenas, decision-making is not one ofthem [11]. When interviewing teams reconvene to de-brief an interview, groupthink can occur or one member of the decision team can be assertive or outspoken leading to a sub-optimal decision being made. In our research and literature review, we\u27ve found that most companies use an informal scoring method or depend entirely on a discussion process to come to a final decision. In some cases a simple weighted scoring method is used although the weights are typically not defined using any scientific method and are rarely constant throughout the process. Likewise if a company is using a rating scale and taking averages of all interviewers, it is not easy to baseline on the ranges used by each decision maker. Since the ultimate goal of the interviewing process is to assess the differences between candidates, this paper argues that a direct pairwise comparison method should be used [5]

Bridging the Cross-Cultural Roads to Team Performance

This paper examines the challenges that today\u27s cross cultural business teams must overcome in order to be a cohesive and effective unit. The discussion relates cultures, communication, and behavior and their effects on teamwork. Teams must understand the effects of culture and how cultural differences can effect communication and behavior. Members must respect cultural differences, communicate through these differences, and subdue how these differences may cause conflict. Although team diversity brings challenges, teams that overcome these obstacles ultimately deliver great performance

Team Spin Self-Analysis: A Real, Cross- Cultural Team

Team SPIN was formed as a working group in the Communication and Team Building Class. Shortly after its formation, SPIN met the team basics defined by The Wisdom of Teams by Katzenbach and Smith and went beyond the basics with their enthusiasm and energy for the course. This paper describes how team SPIN was able to use their complementary skills and forge a common working approach to class assignments. The team overcame distractions and other outside commitments and displayed energy and enthusiasm for team activities. The team members were from culturally and professionally diverse backgrounds which helped them fill roles on the team that contributed to the team’s effectivity. Although this team performed well, its rotating leadership approach and flexible working rules may not work for all teams. Team SPIN has realized that additional structure in leadership, team meetings, and performance measurements may help other teams in the future

eBay (Strategic and Policy Issues)

Over the course of a decade eBay has exploded from a small startup into The World\u27s Online Marketplace™. In 1995, eBay\u27s founder Pierre Omidyar created a potent platform for a community of individuals and businesses to sell a host of goods and services. Millions of offerings across a multitude of categories are sold daily on eBay and Half.com, eBay\u27s site dedicated to fixed price trading. In fact, 2003 produced over $2.1 billion in net revenues, up from$1.2 billion in 2002. [EBay\u27s 2004 estimated revenues were announced as $3.15 billion, indicating that its continuing and unprecedented growth is showing no signs of slowing down. EBay\u27s long-term mission is to create the world\u27s most efficient and abundant marketplace in which anyone, anywhere, can buy or sell practically anything. However, as a pioneer in e-commerce, they are confronted with fierce competition and I many unprecedented growing pains associated with an e-commerce pioneer expanding rapidly into uncharted global markets. Teclmically, operating a secure, 24-bour Online auction house is challenging enough, but meeting the demands of a rapidly expanding client-base presents problems that could linlit bow eBay does business. Because of the very nature of how eBay\u27s online business functions, the sale of counterfeit and pirated goods continues to be problematic. Fraud is both difficult to prevent and investigate because of the high volume of transactions. Growing into other foreign markets, eBay anticipates that local, federal or international laws will make some transactions either difficult or impossible. EBay acknowledges that international expansion subjects them to a variety of risks. Their pullout from Japan in 2002 is evidence that local economic problems and competition are barriers internationally. Also, their recent move into China is not without risk either. Most Chinese citizens do not have checking accounts or credit cards for online transactions, and local competition is strong. Collectively, these and numerous other challenges add volatility to eBay\u27s stock and pose as challenges to their future