Success factors of RFID Implementation - A case-based analysis

Purpose: Radio frequency identification (RFID) has changed logistics processes in many companies and has reshaped supply chain management strategy within short time. But how successful have such adopters of RFID technology really been? Some advocates regarded RFID technology to be one of the biggest technological revolutions of the last years, one that will have a dramatic and positive impact on global industry and commerce. Although some experts are treating this technology like the Holy Grail, very strong criticism from a considerably large community of critics should not be ignored as successful implementation of RFID technology seems to depend heavily on the context of its application which will further outlined in this contribution. Research approach: Based on multiple-case study methodology, reports about recent RFID projects were employed to identify factors that influence the success of companies who have already implemented or are currently implementing RFID technology. From an initial sampling frame of more than 4,000 cases mainly provided by IDTechEX and RFID Journal, two professional institutions which are specialized in the elaboration of a resource pool for RFID implementations, 20 cases provided enough data concerning RFID technology specifics (e.g. tag capabilities or whether tags were reused or not) as well as financial measures like investment volume, tag prices and return on investment (ROI) for further analysis. Findings and Originality: So far, such a systematic analysis of success factors for RFID implementation is missing. Despite a rather small sample size, this multiple case study approach to analyse success factors of RFID implementation offers striking clear results. 3/4 of the companies in the sample used passive, read-only or read-write RFID tags, 3/2 reused them and 19/20 of the surveyed implementations were closed-loop systems without further collaboration efforts with business partners.