Exploration Of Key Influencing Factors For Successful RFID Implementation In Supply And Demand Coordination

Successful coordination of supply and demand is crucial for the competitiveness of a company,and companies need to stay up to date in terms of the information technology they deploy within their supply chains to solve recurring issues like inventory inaccuracy,bullwhip effect,and ineffective replenishment policies.Traditionally,one way to solve those issues is to adopt data collection technologies such as bar codes and QR codes in the traditional supply and demand coordination.However,in order to meet the increasingly sophisticated demands and needs of customers in these modern days,companies also need to find different approaches to find impactful solutions to corporate issues that help to track products,reduce shrinkage,and cut costs.Radio frequency identification(RFID)technology can be such a solution in that it improves the performance of the supply and demand coordination through its wireless tracking capability.In terms of the academic studies related to RFID,this thesis identified the research gaps of issues for which previous researchers did not find clear solutions.More specifically,the introduction part shows that,even though many authors found different factors influencing RFID adoption,there is still not a clear identification of factors influencing RFID adoption in terms of supply and demand coordination of different companies.Also,no analysis explores the possible mediating or moderating relationships among the different factors that even take into consideration different industries and company sizes.This thesis aims to fill in these gaps.It will identify the key influencing factors for RFID adoption,as well as what mediation and moderation effects there are among the RFID adoption factors.The literature review section reviews eight different theories and models that are commonly used in the research concerning technology adoption.However,it selects only three to build this thesis' theoretical model: diffusion of innovation(Do I)theory,technology-organization-environment(TOE)framework,and institutional theory.The underlying reason for adopting those theories and models is because they are applicable at the organizational level,not at the individual level,like the other five.Once the theories have been found,the literature review goes on by comparing RFID with other data collection technologies(i.e.,barcode and QR code)and by presenting what has been studied so far regarding the key influencing factors that affect RFID adoption.In this context,the literature review will serve to narrow down the research on key influencing factors and build a theoretical framework that consists of 22 hypotheses,which will be tested through a qualitative multiple case study methodology.More precisely,this thesis will use unstructured interviews to collect data from 4companies which have operations in the manufacturing,retail,and healthcare industries.Once data have been collected,this thesis will analyze the findings from the4 case studies and verify which of the 22 hypotheses are justified and which are not.By doing so,it will identify which factors are key to explain the RFID adoption and what relationships there are among them.As a result,customer orientation,top management support,organizational innovativeness,proper planning,technology maturity,technology compatibility,and relative advantage are found to be the key influencing factors of RFID.In terms of the relationship among the different factors,this thesis found that various organizational and technological factors(i.e.,top management support,organizational innovativeness,proper planning,technology maturity,technology compatibility,and relative advantage)mediate the relationship between customer orientation and RFID adoption.In terms of moderating effects,this study found that organizational decentralization,technology complexity,and burden of cost strengthen the relationship between customer orientation and RFID adoption.In conclusion,this thesis equips RFID enthusiasts,business practitioners,and researchers with an analysis of the limitations of this thesis as well as recommendations for the development of future research with regards to RFID.