This thesis discusses research on electronic IOPTSs. The research approaches several aspects of such systems, including their characterizations and possible improvements of IQ and the resulting benefits of such systems when used in supply chains. The study also scrutinizes the difficulty in implementing tracking systems across supply chain actors. The research combines theory from several relevant research areas, most notably the research streams on IQ and on the adoption of inter-organizational systems found within the field of IS, and in a large number of contributions discussing the possible benefits of tracking systems using RFID technology. The discussion is also based on rich empirical evidence that was collected using qualitative methods such as interviewing, observations and document studies to study some of the first electronic IOPTSs being implemented in the supply network for wild caught seafood in Northwestern Europe.
The first focal area is the adoption of tracking systems. The persisting low degree of tracking systems adoption in real supply chains seems to be a paradox when considering the large potential benefits that should make such systems a “technological imperative.” In the ‘90s, a similar paradox was observed for EDI, a technology having many similarities with tracking systems, including high posited benefits and slow adoption. The adoption of EDI has been extensively studied over more than two decades using different theories, for example the TAM and DOI, but no commonly accepted theory has emerged. Finally, research covering several levels from the individual, via the organization to the industry and the national level indicates that all these levels contribute to explaining adoption. Early research on the adoption of tracking systems based on RFID seems to follow the pattern of early research on EDI by using the TAM, the DOI or similar theories and performing factor analyses at the individual level. This thesis follows an alternative approach by building on the results derived from the more mature part of research on EDI. This includes elements of TCE concerning transaction risks in the form of specific assets, asymmetric information and the risk of losing control over information. These risks are especially relevant when studying the adoption of tracking systems, which could be regarded as expensive relation-specific assets giving counterparts and competitors access to sensitive internal information.
The initiator is the actor taking the initiative to implement a tracking system in its supply chain. For the initiator, it is essential that other actors representing a substantial part of the product volume adopt the system to harvest the full benefits. We call these other actors followers. The adoption research presented here aims at obtaining actionable results by explicitly studying the actions that could be taken by a tracking system initiator to obtain the necessary adoption by followers.
A result from EDI research is that the initiator can use power to make followers adopt, and that follower adoption can be especially challenging when followers are SMEs. The results presented in the first paper (Section 7) indicates that even a less powerful company can obtain the necessary adoption in a supply network with many SMEs and points to a number of strategies that could be employed in similar situations, including two that have not been reported in the surveyed literature.
The adoption theme is further elaborated in a second paper (Section 1), which presents a technological choice model to support decision making by initiators choosing technologies for a tracking system when the goal is to reach supply chain penetration. The model is based on results
from research on EDI adoption and is supported by a four-case empirical study covering technological alternatives.
During recent years, a number of studies of the benefits of tracking systems have followed the call from Lee and Özer (2007) to go back to basics and use mathematical modeling of elementary processes to evaluate the possible benefits resulting from the improved IQ provided by tracking systems. However, unfortunately, the logistics and SCM research community has scarcely taken into consideration results from IQ research. This field in its own right has established IQ as a multidimensional concept and has developed methods for its assessment and improvement.
IQ is the second main theme of this thesis. Section 2.4 gives an overview of the IQ literature including some contributions relying on user centric methods to evaluate IQ in supply chains.
Sections 2.4.5.1 to 2.4.5.3 combine theory from the IQ research stream with database theory to analyze the interdependent root causes of deficient IQ, especially in supply chains and extends the analysis to discuss how the important accuracy, completeness and timeliness dimensions of IQ can be substantially improved when introducing tracking systems.
The implicit baseline in the IQ research stream is computerized information. To cater for the lower baseline of IQ found in most supply chains Section 2.4.5.4 establishes and grades a new “digital representation” IQ dimension. A further contribution, discussed in Section 9 is the development of a supply chain information mapping tool. This tool uses a process-centric method to map information processing and IQ. Even though some mapping tools covering the information processing in supply chains already exist, the notation presented here is novel 1) by showing the IQ dynamics (the evolution of IQ over time) specific to each actor and each information element and 2) by having specific notations for the various methods for the identification of physical goods and transfer of information. When performed manually, such operations are ubiquitous sources of errors, incomplete information and costs in many current supply chains.
The impacts of tracking systems constitute the third theme covered by this thesis. There is already a rich research stream discussing the potential benefits of such systems based on RFID. In Section 2.6, that literature is summarized into a benefits framework by visualizing the relationships between the different benefits mainly as discussed in three extensive reviews of the literature. A higher-level framework is also presented, explicitly including IQ and tentatively classifying the resulting benefits according to being mainly because of the automatic identification of traceable items or being a consequence of disseminating the resulting information through a tracking system.
The relationships are classified depending on the time horizons of their impacts.
This research project gave insights into the sSCM strategies pursued by the wild caught seafood industry. A contribution to tracking system benefits research based on this insight is presented in paper four (Section 10). The contribution is an evaluation of the degree to which the scope and extent of the tracking systems studied during the project provide sufficient IQ in terms of completeness and accuracy to support the sSCM strategies pursued by the industry. The paper thereby illustrates how the characterization of tracking systems and concepts from IQ can be used to discuss the potential benefits of such systems.
The literature study by Lee and Özer (2007) concludes that even though there are a number of impact studies making more or less informed guesses on the magnitude of impacts and a few making estimations based on findings from pilot implementations and from motion studies, there is
a lack of published studies of the realized economic benefits from full-scale implementations. The scarcity of such research can be expected when taking into consideration that the full benefits of technologies needing protracted implementation processes in independent companies will only fully materialize after a prolonged time period. Such processes should therefore be studied in longitudinal research projects with a time frame from before starting until after completion, and with access to sufficient data both to capture the difference and to adjust for all disturbing factors.
An exemplary 10-year EDI impact study in this category is Mukhopadhyay et al. (1995), but following their example is clearly beyond the time frame of a single PhD project.
However, the firms constituting the main arena for research in this study succeeded in implementing a tracking system in their supply chains. Since the study started, an increasing proportion of the supply chain players is participating both by providing goods that can be identified automatically and by capturing and transferring the corresponding information through tracking systems. The quality of goods identification has also improved considerably since the project started. The benefits have already started to accrue, and personnel in both focal companies have reported reduced errors and reduced claims. It also seems that their customers benefit from the increased IQ available from the tracking systems, and that this has resulted in demand for better information from competing actors and from the few actors in the supply chain not yet fully hooked up to the tracking system. Moreover, it seems that personnel turnover could be reduced because of the improved working conditions obtained through the decreasing number of complaints and the reduced efforts spent on mitigating errors.