The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0140-9174.htm
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Is RFID right for your organization or application? Pedro M. Reyes Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA, and
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Patrick Jaska Department of Business Administration and Systems, College of Business, University of Mary Hardin Baylor, Belton, Texas, USA Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to help managers determine whether RFID is appropriate for their particular organizational needs and to give them some guidelines for implementing an RFID solution. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a general review of RFID and offers instructions to managers who are in a dilemma as to whether RFID is right for their organization or application. Findings – The results of this study provide managers with procedures to follow that will enable them to minimize RFID implementation problems. Practical implications – For practicing managers, these implementation procedures have important implications. As with any technological implementation, the needs of the organization, its personnel, and customers must be at the forefront of the process. Originality/value – This paper offers managers a valuable perspective on the RFID implementation process for their organization. Keywords Radio, Frequencies, Supply chain management, Technology led strategy Paper type Research paper
Introduction Radio frequency identification (RFID) has, for the most part, been flying below the business-innovation and best practice radar. Much hype and press have been given to RFID since the mandates by Wal-Mart and the US Department of Defense (DoD) (Juban and Wyld, 2004; Smith, 2005; Wicks, et al., 2006; Hardgrave and Miller, 2006; Reyes and Jaska, 2006; Wyld, 2006; Reyes et al., 2007). Whether RFID represents a new direction in supply chain management theory and practice is a question of no small consequence. Furthermore, it is not reasonable to believe that all firms will adopt RFID (Reyes and Jaska, 2006), yet many managers are in a dilemma as to whether RFID is right for their organization or application (Reyes et al., 2007). In some ways, RFID is like any other past technological implementation, but in some ways it is not. The actual benefits and risks of RFID coupled with the managers’ evolving perceptions about these benefits and risks will determine the speed at which RFID moves from introduction/ developmental to maturity stage. Several RFID descriptive papers have been published during the past few years, such as Kärkkäinen and Holmström (2002), Juban and Wyld (2004), Srivastava (2004), Angeles (2005), and Wyld (2006). The purpose of this paper is to aid managers in their quest to determine whether RFID is appropriate for their particular needs and give them some guidelines for implementing an RFID solution. Management Research News Although RFID has been around for more than 50 years, recent mandates by WalVol. 30 No. 8, 2007 Mart and the DoD have sparked massive interest in it potential for improving supply pp. 570-580 # Emerald Group Publishing Limited chain performance (Angeles, 2005; Hardgrave and Miller, 2006; Reyes and Frazier, 0140-9174 2007). Also contributing to this, RFID-interest is the rapid acceleration and availability DOI 10.1108/01409170710773706
of computer science and Internet technologies that have been evolving and re-shaping supply chain management processes and practice. As part of the considerations for RFID implementation, managers must filter through the hype and understand what the technology can and cannot do. As with many technologies, the hype and the misunderstanding can be damaging to expectations (Hardgrave and Miller, 2006). One of the barriers to adopting RFID at the forefront of managerial concern is the difficulty in quantifying the cost-benefit ROI (return on investment) in acquiring this technology. Yet there are many factors contributing to RFID adoption, and they are similar to the recent internet-based e-commerce technology (c.f. Hong and Zhu, 2006). These contributing factors are theory-based and are summarized in Table I (which is by no means an exhaustive list). Other issues that managers should be concerned with include security and privacy (Jones et al., 2004; Boulard, 2005; So, Stuart and Liu, John, 2006). These issues must be at the forefront of any RFID considerations. Organization data security policies must be examined to ensure customer data is not compromised. For the supply chain, security policies are outlined in EPC Network measures (So, Stuart and Liu, John, 2006) set forth by EPC global (an international RFID standards body). Privacy advocates are concerned about tracking customers (Ferguson, 2006; Boulard, 2005). Several solutions are available to eliminate tracking of tags after products are sold including ‘‘kill tags’’, password lock, cage approach, active-jamming, and cryptography (Boulard, 2005). These techniques need to be explored to determine which is best for an organization’s particular application. Adoption and implementation of RFID can be aided by the following procedures/ guidelines that meet the needs of the organization. Managers should be willing to change or adjust processes in order to get the most out of RFID implementation.
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Implementation considerations Many approaches to technology adoption and implementation can be found in recent academic and practitioner literature (Angeles, 2005; Curtin et al., 2007; Quaddus and Theory
Factors
IT adoption (Beatty et al., 2001)
. . . .
Innovation theory (Beatty et al., 2001)
. . .
Technology, organization, environment (TOE) (Zhu et al., 2003)
. . . . . .
Industrial organizational (Porter, 1981)
.
Resource-based view (Barney, 1991)
.
Perceived benefits Complexity Organizational compatibility Top management support Entry timing Organizational readiness External factors Technology competence Firm scope Size Consumer readiness Partner readiness Competitive pressure Firm performance is enabled or constrained by industry structure Presence of resources that meet certain conditions, such as value, rarity, imperfect imitability and lack of substitutability
Table I. Contributing factors for RFID adoption
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Xu, 2005; del Aguila-Obra and Padilla-Meléndez, 2006; Hong and Zhu, 2006). In many respects, RFID adoption is very much like any other technology adoption (before RFID). The manager must align the technology requirements with the business requirements, but in the case of RFID this may mean that the business processes may have to be changed drastically to adapt to the technology. These are some of the same issues that organizations are facing when adopting ERP, integrated software systems, electronic data interchange, and e-commerce. Business processes have to be examined in light of the technology and its capabilities. To determine whether adopting RFID will be beneficial to an organization or one of its processing applications, a manager must follow a procedure that is conducive to the organization’s business plan and objectives. Clearly, the first step is to achieve an understanding of what RFID can and cannot do. Then the process for building the ROI business case should begin with the firm, and then the other aspects of the supply chain delivery system. In this case, the RFID application must be implemented to meet organizational business goals. If, for example, the business goal is to improve customer service through more accurate/timely order delivery, the manager must analyze the business processes presently in place and determine which processes need to be changed to fully utilize the RFID technology. Moreover, performance metrics should be aligned with the firm’s objectives and reflect such topics as improved cash-to-cash cycles, leaner inventories, reduced stock outs, and more accurate data (Spekman and Sweeny, 2006). In the case of mandatory requirements from an organization’s customer, such as in the case of Wal-Mart, the manager or organization has no choice but to adopt RFID. Even in this situation management must look at the processes presently in place and re-engineer those processes to get the full benefit of RFID. Simply replacing barcode technology with RFID will not, in most cases, improve efficiency or effectiveness of the delivery or manufacture of a product or service. The following is an eight-step guideline for implementation. Table II gives a summary of the guidelines for implementation. These guidelines extend those found in Angeles (2005) and Bean (2006). Step 1: Understand what RFID can and cannot do RFID is an exciting technology that has potential benefits for improving supply chain operations. However, before a firm can begin to implement RFID there must be a clear understanding of what RFID is and is not. As with past technologies, hype tends to create unrealistic expectations, which could lead to artificial perceptions of the technology. In this paper, we highlight six of the ten popular myths identified by Hardgrave and Miller (2006) in this subsection. All ten of these popular RFID myths are summarized in Table III. Myth #3: People can drive down the street and read RFID tags inside your home, thus knowing everything about you and your stuff is a concern for privacy. While it is possible to read a RFID tag without a direct line of sight (a key advantage of RFID) – it is not likely for tags to be read inside one’s home for several reasons. First, the read range for passive UHF tags is about 10-30 feet. Therefore, for a person to drive by one’s home and send a signal to go through the house, they would have to encircle the house to read everything. Second, and perhaps the most important factor, is that currently only pallets and cases are being tagged. Hence, there are few (if any) individual items
Step in implementation
Description
Personnel involved
Understand what RFID can and cannot do Analysis of present system
Getting past the myths
Key personnel that will use the RFID system and IT Key personnel using the present system, IT, and management Key personnel using the present system, IT, and senior management Key personnel using the present system and slated to use the new RFID system, IT, and management Key personnel that will use the RFID system and IT All personnel using the RFID system and IT Key IT personnel and management Management, IT, and key personnel using the RFID System
Build a ROI business case Requirements analysis
Analyze the processes and outcomes of the present system Analysis of what potential benefits could be reached with RFID Analyze the requirements and how RFID will be implemented
Prototype testing
Test the proposed RFID system
Implementation
Implement the RFID system
Monitor
Monitor the RFID system to make sure that it meets expectations Look for improvements to processes and technology changes
Continuous improvement
tagged that are taken home. But as adoption moves to item level, then the number of items with tags entering the household will increase. Myth #6: You must have 100 per cent reads at 100 per cent of the read points for RFID to be useful. This has been a so-called ‘‘good’’ argument for not implementing RFID. In theory, it is possible for 100 per cent of tagged items to be read at 100 per cent of the read points – but it is not practical. There are many things that could cause a missed read, such as a person or object moving in front of the read point. But it is highly probable that a tagged item will be seen at one or more read points. Myth #7: Major retailers have mandated that all suppliers tag all products for all stores. However, currently only a small group of suppliers is tagging a small group of products going to a small group of stores. Wal-Mart, Metro, Albertson’s, and Best Buy are among the retail giants that have an initiative in place for adoption. If successful adoption continues, then it is possible that there will be a need for more vendors to start tagging their products, which is similar to the barcode adoption. Myth #8: RFID is costing the average Wal-Mart vendor $23 million annually was based on an AMR Research estimate. However, actual costs have been reported to be less than the estimate. Among the factors that may have contributed to this difference include (1) the scope of implementation such as a ‘‘slap and ship’’ strategy to satisfy a customer requirement, (2) technology prices declining, and (3) actual deployment of RFID is not as difficult as expected. Myth #9: RFID is the panacea for creating the perfect supply chain, solving all of the problems in the supply chain. While RFID can improve supply chain performance – either in the efficiency or effectiveness of process improvements, it is not the panacea for creating the perfect supply chain. Firms must be realistic in determining where to deploy RFID based on identified supply chain operations where the benefits may make economic sense.
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Table II. Guidelines for implementation
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Myth
Reality
#1: RFID is new – or RFID technology is mature and stable
Early uses of RFID has existed since World War II, however the use of passive tags in supply chain is new Continuous tracking would require millions of readers and antennae located in a very close proximity to produce the necessary overlapping electromagnet fields – is not economically justified The read range for passive UHF RFID is about 10-30 feet, which means that a person would have to be extremely close to read the tags
#2: RFID can be used to continuously track people/objects wherever they go – anywhere #3: People can drive down the street and read RFID tags inside your home, thus knowing everything about you and your stuff #4: RFID tags contain information about everything, including sensitive personal information #5: RFID is generating millions of terabytes of data #6: You must have 100 per cent reads at 100 per cent of the read points for RFID to be useful #7: Major retailers have mandated that all suppliers tag all products for all stores #8: RFID is costing the average Wal-Mart vendor $23 million annually
#9: RFID is the panacea for creating the perfect supply chain
#10: RFID is replacing the barcode
Table III. Understanding the RFID Myths
RFID tags have limited storage and cannot hold all of the information as suggested Yes, RFID will produce more data. However, the challenge is not how to store it, but rather how to mine it for business value In theory, yes. But not practical. There are many things that could cause a missed read. But it is highly probable that a tagged item will be seen at one or more read points Currently only a small group of suppliers is tagging a small group of products going to a small group of stores Scope of implementation, technology prices declining, and actual deployment of RFID is not as difficult as expected are factors that contributed to vendors spending much less than estimated Yes, RFID can improve supply chain performance – either in the efficiency or effectiveness of process improvements. However, not the panacea for creating the perfect supply chain While RFID does offer several advantages over barcodes. It is more likely to be a complementary technology in the present and near future. But since RFID is a data carrier, it is possible it will replace barcode at some point
Source: Hardgrave and Miller (2006)
Myth #10: RFID is replacing the barcode is possible, but not in the near future. The reality is that these two technologies are complementary ‘‘data storing’’ technologies, and each serve a different purpose in managing supply chain operations. Step 2: Analysis of present system As with any technology analysis, the requirements of the system must be determined. This should be a thorough analysis of the system or process that is in place. This analysis requires detailed process flows and analysis conducted by interviewing all
key individuals who interact with the present system. The present system can be examined and illustrated using process diagramming techniques and tools. All key individuals involved in the present system need to agree on the final process diagram of the present system. The analysis of the present system provides for a benchmark of what supply chain operation processes need improvement. For example, St. Vincent’s, the country’s largest nonprofit health-care system, is part of Ascension Health Corp. with 67 acutecare hospitals in 20 states. In recent years, St. Vincent’s has served more than 17,000 inpatients and 125,000 outpatients. The number of patients is growing – from March to December 2005, admissions increased by 19 per cent. However St. Vincent’s, which has 338 beds, lacked up-to-the-minute information about the availability of the beds. As a result, many patients had to be diverted to other hospitals. It was reported that in 2004, St. Vincent’s lost an estimated $20 million in net revenue because of these patient diversions (Gambon, 2006a). In another example, China International Marine Containers (CIMC), a leading worldwide supplier of containers to the shipping industry, tracking its products is no small task. The $4 billion company manufactures more than 1 million dry-freight containers for customers across the globe each year. It operates 20 factories and stores the containers at 40 different yards throughout China before delivering them to clients. For years, CIMC’s inventory-tracking process was very labor-intensive. Workers used a mix of optical character recognition technology along with paper, pens, walkie-talkies, and binoculars in the container yards, to determine its products’ location. This system caused inefficiencies and waste. In fact, the company often did not know the exact location of its containers and in some cases lost them or delivered the wrong ones to its customers. In an effort to cut costs and improve their supply chain operations, CIMC launched an RFID pilot project last year to track containers from the factory to the storage yard (Gambon 2006b). Step 3: Build a ROI business case Once an analysis of the present system has been conducted (including the targeted operational improvement areas), a ROI business case is required. For example, Wells’ Dairy built a tagging system for cases and pallets of ice cream to comply with the WalMart mandate. However, instead of only complying with the customer requirement, the supplier turned to Rockwell Automation to develop their unique RFID solution that could pull data from its production-line control system and provide information about the specific location of a case or pallet within its facilities – a major cost saving process (Greengard, 2007b). In another example, RFID-tagging of books in a retail store could result in savings from faster and more accurate stock receiving, as well as better stock-keeping and inventory management. It would further enable more accurate invoice payments. The real benefits would come from reduced out-of-stocks and improving re-ordering, because managers would know what they have and what they have sold. Moreover, reducing the out-of-stocks alone should increase sales by 5 per cent (Collins, 2006). In the previous St. Vincent’s example, the hospital also developed a strategy to improve patient visibility, eliminate backups in admissions and discharges, and reduce the time spent waiting for care. The first step in reaching those goals was getting better insight into where patients were at all times, as well as making available real-time information about the status of other operational processes, such as doctors’ orders and test results (Gambon, 2006a).
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Step 4: Requirements analysis Following the analysis of the present system, a new process model needs to be developed that will utilize RFID to its full potential. This requires a thorough understanding of RFID capabilities and limitations. In the case of improving customer service through more accurate/timely order delivery, this may require a complete redesign of the order delivery process. In some cases this may not be necessary, depending on the system being analyzed. The Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) released a study stating that one of the main issues in RFID is defining the processes that need to be changed so that RFID can reduce stockouts and help with other supply chain management issues. The results of the study were derived from detailed analysis of two dozen business cases put together by GMA. These business cases were analyzed by Kearney and IBM Business Consulting Services, which drew conclusions about categories of products and levels tagging to use (Roberti, 2004). Defining the current business processes and understanding the requirements is vital in RFID implementation. Step 5: Prototype testing After the redesign/adjustment of the present system, RFID implementation will require extensive testing to ensure that the new system design will deliver the results anticipated. Adjustments to both processes and procedures will be necessary to help to guarantee the success of the new RFID system. For example, after several weeks of discussions, research and brainstorming with Chad Carpenter, president of AARFID, a pilot using 1,000 units of blood products was initiated. The goal was to be able to locate specific blood products from trays stored inside the cooler using RFID interrogators and passive tags attached to blood bags. Several challenges occurred. First, they had to find a way to eliminate interference caused by the metal trays holding the blood bags, which made reading the passive tags nearly impossible. Other electronic devices, like telephones, also caused interference problems. Eventually, after testing a variety of passive tags – ranging from 13.56 to 915 MHz – it became clear that the high water content of the blood, combined with the metal trays, would cause additional problems (Greengard, 2007a). Another reported example of testing involves tagging bags and luggage in airports. In the summer of 2004, the TSA conducted two tag-readability trials to see if tags could move between two contrasting regulatory environments. UHF tags were encoded and attached to luggage moving between Honolulu Airport and Japan’s Narita Airport in Tokyo. The tagged luggage was also encoded in Rome and then sent to Philadelphia. At the Honolulu and Rome airports, using the frequency range allowed in each airport’s respective country, the tags were encoded with a random ten-digit number designed to simulate the ten-digit passenger name record airlines currently use on bar code labels to track bags. The tests were successful, which revealed that tags could be encoded in the middle (902-928 MHz) of the band and could be read at the high end (950-956 MHz), or encoded in the middle band and read in the low end (865.6867.6 MHz). No tags, however, were read at all three bands (O’Connor, 2005). Step 6: Implementation Once the new system has been tested, then the implementation process can begin. This may require running the new system in parallel with the old system to ensure accurate results. In most cases this may not be possible. So, another way to measure accuracy and improvement is to compare the results of the new system to data collected from the
old system. Therefore, measuring the capabilities and accuracy of the old system is necessary in order to benchmark the results of the new system. In 2005, the US Army began using RFID to help track parts for two communication systems used in Afghanistan and Iraq. This system tracks repair parts for radar antenna systems. RFID is helping speed-up the refurbishing process for the radar systems cutting about 836 repair–cycle days each year. ROI was realized in 11 months with projections of $450,000 worth of savings annually on tracking and maintaining those systems alone. The initial cost of implementing the system was between $200,000 and $700,000 (Bacheldor, 2006). Step 7: Monitor Once implemented, the RFID system needs to be monitored and continuous improvement measures need to be set in place. This will ensure that the system continues to meet expectations and evolve as needed to meet the needs and goals of the organization and/or business unit. For example, a multi-frequency tag readability test was conducted from June 16 to July 28 at United Airlines’ ticket counter by workers in Tokyo using AR400 readers, operating in the 950-956 MHz band. A daily average of 15 baggage tags with randomly generated numbers that simulated the ten-digit passenger name record was encoded. The workers attached the tags to dummy bags that were being flown to Chicago, where they were read and moved to another flight headed to Amsterdam, and then read a final time. In Amsterdam, the same process was repeated in the reverse direction as the bags were sent back to Tokyo. At each airport, readers were installed on conveyors used to read the tags attached to bags on their way to the planes and as they were received from the planes. At Narita, it was reported that 100 per cent of the tags were successfully read on bags headed for departing flights, while 99.2 per cent were read on bags unloaded from returning planes. In Amsterdam, it was reported that 99.2 per cent of tags were read on inbound bags along with 99.4 per cent read outbound. The reported tag read rates for bags arriving at and departing O’Hare ranged between 100 and 99.2 per cent (O’Connor, 2005). Step 8: Continuous improvement Continuous improvement is a necessary aspect of all supply chain activities. In order to reduce costs, maintain customer satisfaction, and stay competitive, continuous improvement is vital to business success. Starbucks is deploying RFID to track perishable foods delivered to its cafes to ensure freshness of products to their customers. The company uses RFID to track temperatures all the way from vendor to café, monitoring temperatures within delivery trucks and in the refrigerators and freezers that store the product until used. Starbucks’ director of global quality assurance and regulatory affairs believes that monitoring the processes at Starbucks using RFID will ensure optimal efficiencies and help with continuous improvement (RFID Journal 2006). In the healthcare arena, RFID can help immensely with continuous improvement. One area of improvement is in patient flow. Tracking procedure start, stop, and wait times can help automate previously manual measurement techniques. This can help with Six Sigma and continuous improvement of patient-flow management (Evans, 2006).
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Conclusion Using the guidelines in Table II, managers should be able to follow these procedures to help minimize RFID implementation problems. RFID is a technology that is applicable to many industries. Success stories have been documented in several industries. The notable documented cases have been in the healthcare industry and retail industry. In the healthcare industry, RFID can help to improve patient safety (Koshy, 2005). Medical errors are the fifth to eighth leading cause of death in the USA (Kohn et al., 2000). One medical use of RFID is for patient identification (Koshy, 2005). Many more are being discovered and implemented, such as patient medication management, medical supply usage, medical processes, and outpatient compliance (Wicks et al., 2006). In the retail grocery environment, one major advantage of RFID is cost reduction through better tracking of inventory to keep the right product on the shelves, to control shrinkage issues, and to manage over and under stocking problems. The result is better customer service and more profits in the long run. Today, we can agree with Reyes et al. (2007), where it is not reasonable to believe RFID will fit all industries. However, with the cost of technology on the decline coupled with the increased awareness (and success stories) of potential application, the authors believe that RFID will some day be applied in almost all industries – hence the motivation for this paper. The RFID tag technology will determine the operating parameters for any RFID implementation (So, Stuart and Liu, John, 2006). Organizational needs have to be considered before implementation. Also, managers have to keep security and privacy issue in mind as they adopt and implement RFID. The benefits of RFID far outweigh the negative effects of the technology. With appropriate safeguards in place, RFID can be an efficiency and effectiveness solution for any organization. References Angeles, R. (2005), ‘‘RFID technologies: supply-chain applications and implementation issues’’, Information Systems Management, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 51-65. Bacheldor, B. (2006), ‘‘Army expands RFID implementation to critical defense systems’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2710/ Barney, J.B. (1991), ‘‘Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage’’, Journal of Management, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 99-120. Bean, L. (2006), ‘‘RFID: why the worry?’’, The Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance, Vol. 17 No. 5, pp. 3-13. Beatty, R.C., Shim, J.P. and Jones, M.C. (2001), ‘‘Factors influencing corporate website adoption: a time-based assessment’’, Information and Management, Vol. 38 No. 6, pp. 337-54. Boulard, G. (2005), ‘‘RFID: promise or perils?’’, State Legislatures Magazine, December, pp. 22-4. Collins, J. (2006), ‘‘Reading books reduces out-of-stocks’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2696/ Curtin, J., Kauffman, R.J. and Frederick, F.J. (2007), ‘‘Making the most out of RFID technology: a research agenda for the study of the adoption, usage, and impact of RFID’’, Information and Technology and Management, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 87-110. del Aguila-Obra, A.R. and Padilla-Meléndez, A. (2006), ‘‘Organizational factors affecting internet technology adoption’’, Internet Research, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 94-110. Evans, R.D. (2006), ‘‘Where is RFID’s ROI in health care?’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2124/1/82/
Ferguson, R.B. (2006), ‘‘VeriChip sells first baby protection system, in talks with military’’, eWeek, available at: www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2008340,00.asp Gambon, J. (2006a), ‘‘RFID frees up patient beds’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2549/ Gambon, J. (2006b), ‘‘RFID contains solution to Chinese shipping problems’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2707/ Greengard, S. (2007a), ‘‘Mississippi blood services banks on RFID’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2472/1/4/ Greengard, S. (2007b), ‘‘Wells’ Dairy milks RFID for benefits’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2907/ Hardgrave, B. and Miller, R. (2006), ‘‘The myths and realities of RFID’’, International Journal of Global Logistics & Supply Chain Management, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 1-16. Hong, W. and Zhu, K. (2006), ‘‘Migrating to internet-based e-commerce: factors affecting e-commerce adoption and migration at the firm level’’, Information and Management, Vol. 43 No. 2, pp. 204-21. Jones, P., Clarke-Hill, C., Hillier, D., Shears, P. and Comfort, D. (2004), ‘‘Radio frequency identification in retailing and privacy and public policy issues’’, Management Research News, Vol. 27 No. 8/9, pp. 46-56. Juban, R. and Wyld, D. (2004), ‘‘Would you like chips with that? Consumer perspectives of RFID’’, Management Research News, Vol. 27 No. 11/12, pp. 29-44. Kärkkäinen, M. and Holmström, J. (2002), ‘‘Wireless product identification: enabler for handling efficiency, customization and information sharing’’, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 242-52. Kohn, L.T., Corrigan, J. and Donaldson, M.S. (2000), To Err is Human: building a Safer Health System, National Academic Press, Washington, DC. Koshy, R. (2005), ‘‘Navigating the information technology highway: computer solutions to reduce errors and enhance patient safety’’, Transfusion, Vol. 45 No. 10, pp. 189S-205S. O’Connor, M.C. (2005), ‘‘EPC bag tagging takes wing’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2024/ Porter, M. (1981), ‘‘The contributions of industrial organizations to strategic management’’, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 609-20. Quaddus, M. and Xu, J. (2005), ‘‘Adoption and diffusion of knowledge management systems: field studies of factors and variables’’, Knowledge-Based Systems, Vol. 18 No 2-3, pp. 107-15. Reyes, P.M. and Frazier, G.V. (2007), ‘‘Radio frequency identification: past, present, and future business applications’’, International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 125-34. Reyes, P.M. and Jaska, P. (2006), ‘‘A research agenda for RFID integrated supply chain management studies’’, International Journal of Global Logistics & Supply Chain Management, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 98-103. Reyes, P.M., Frazier, G.V., Prater, E.L. and Cannon, A.R. (2007), ‘‘RFID: the state of the union between promise and practice’’, International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 125-34. RFID Journal (2006), ‘‘Starbucks keeps fresh with RFID’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2890/1/1/ Roberti, M. (2004), ‘‘GMA: business case for EPC mixed’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1250/1/1/ Smith, A. (2005), ‘‘Exploring radio frequency identification technology and its impact on business’’, Information Management & Computer Security, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 16-28.
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Spekman, R. and Sweeny, P. (2006), ‘‘RFID: from concept to implementation’’, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 36 No. 10, pp. 736-54. Srivastava, B. (2004), ‘‘Radio frequency ID technology: the next revolution in SCM’’, Business Horizons, Vol. 47 No. 6, pp. 60-8. Stuart, C.K. and Liu, J. J. (2006), ‘‘Securing RFID applications: issues, methods, and controls’’, Telecommunication and Network Security, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 43-50. Wicks, A.M., Visich, J.K. and Li, S. (2006), ‘‘Radio frequency identification applications in hospital environments’’, Hospital Topics: Research and Perspectives on Healthcare, Vol. 84 No. 3, pp. 3-8. Wyld, D. (2006), ‘‘RFID 101: the next big thing for management’’, Management Research News, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 154-73. Zhu, K., Kraemer, S. and Xu, S. (2003), ‘‘Electronic business adoption by European firms: a crosscountry assessment of the facilitators and inhibitors’’, European Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 251-68. Further reading O’Connor, M.C. (2006), ‘‘LEGO puts the RFID pieces together’’, RFID Journal, available at: www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2145/1/4/ About the authors Pedro M. Reyes is an assistant professor of operations management in the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University, a Lawrence Schkade Research Fellow, recipient of Hankamer Young Researcher award, and an affiliate of Sloan Industry Studies. Research interest includes RFID integrated supply chain management and control systems. Pedro M. Reyes is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: pedro_reyes@baylor.edu Patrick Jaska is the Chair of the Department of Business Administration and Systems at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, Texas, USA. His research interests include technological and intercultural issues in global supply chain management, information systems, and e-commerce.
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