Factors affecting radio frequency identification technology implementation: a comparative study of Australian and Chinese supply chains

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has emerged as one of the most significant process innovations in supply chain contexts. It is a proven technology with the capability to increase accuracy, efficiency and speed of supply chain processes; reduce inventory and handling costs. The aim of this study is to investigate and compare enabling factors of RFID implementation in Australian and Chinese supply chains. Employing the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach this study suggests that managers in Chinese firms have a very different view concerning importance of factors for RFID implementation. Australians firms view technological factor-category as the most important priority, whereas Chinese firms view it as the least important category. Again, Australian firms view organizational factor-category as one of the least important priorities in terms of RFID implementation, whereas Chinese view it by far the most important. With respect to external environment category, there was no agreement - opinions varied widely. For Chinese managers this category of factor is quite important, whereas Australian managers view it as the least important priority. However, with respect to economic factor-category, views were generally in agreement, although levels of importance differed significantly. For effective implementation of RFID in their supply chains, managers in Australian and Chinese firms must take into account priorities associated with these factor-categories and individual factors. In particular, Chinese firm must buy-in top management support, and concentrate on hardware & software cost and tag cost, whereas, Australian firm must concentrate on standards, tag cost and implementation cost.