Key factors for the adoption of RFID in the logistics industry in Taiwan

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to comprehensively examine the factors that influence the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) in the logistics industry in Taiwan, and to objectively identify the key factors (KFs) for successful adoption. Design/methodology/approach – First, the factors were collected from a review of the literature, and then arranged in a three-layer hierarchical table. The fuzzy analytic hierarchical process (FAHP) was then used to determine the weighting of each factor, based on the opinions of various logistics professionals. The acceptable advantage concept of VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) was then used to identify the KFs. Findings – Nine important factors were identified from the total of eighteen factors, with a total accumulative weight of 64.68 percent, and from these, four KFs were determined: meeting the demands of clients, sharing real-time information, creating advantages in overall delivery, and reducing operational errors. Practical implications – The results show that the logistics industry in Taiwan should focus on the improvement of four KFs when adopting RFID. Eight practical implications of this study are also discussed in the paper. Originality/value – This study used multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tools to obtain the importance (weighting) of each factor and to identify the KFs that influence the adoption of RFID. The research results can serve as a reference for the logistics industry, enabling firms to better allocate their resources when adopting RFID, and thus, to achieve a good outcome at lower cost and with greater efficiency.