Radio frequency identification: supply chain impact and implementation challenges

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has received considerable attention from practitioners, driven by mandates from major retailers and the US Department of Defense. RFID technology promises numerous benefits in the supply chain, such as increased visibility, security and efficiency. Despite such attentions and the anticipated benefits, RFID is not well understood and many problems exist in the adoption and implementation of RFID. The purpose of this paper is to introduce RFID technology to practitioners and academicians by systematically reviewing the relevant literature, discussing how RFID systems work, their advantages, supply chain impacts, and the implementation challenges and the corresponding strategies, in a hope of providing guidance for practitioners in the implementation of RFID technology and offering a springboard for academicians to conduct future research in this area.supply chain management; SCM; radio frequency identification; RFID adoption; RFID implementation; e-business; electronic business