The potential impact of M2M technology in supply chains
Master thesis
Permanent lenke
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/262941Utgivelsesdato
2009Metadata
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Sammendrag
Currently more and more companies have started to introduce different types of technology to their supply chains in order to improve product flow and achieve higher returns. Research has shown that glitches in a firm?s supply chain can have adverse effects both on the firm?s operational and market value. A general assumption in such cases is that processes will be improved when introducing different types of technology to the supply chain, but it has been observed that this is a complex task which is not always straight forward. RFID has already been implemented in different supply chains, but uniquely successful results have been few. It is therefore of interest to investigate the complexity of such implementations. The approach of this thesis has been to combine a business school approach with technology and a resource based analysis. The aim of the research performed has been to investigate the potential economic impact of implementing RFID technology in the logistics part of a firm?s supply chain. Focus has been on wholesaling activities, and transport and distribution have been central. It is expected that a large number of objects with networking capabilities and computational power will appear in the M2M market, and that the communication network infrastructure will be more widely used to connect objects than today. A simple resource based strategic analysis of some resources held by Telenor that possibly can be relevant for a potential connected objects offering has also been performed. It has been found that RFID implementations have a potential to influence and improve a company?s logistics activities. However, in order to achieve the desired results some important requirements must be fulfilled. It is also found that Telenor might have some resources that are important for providing a potential connected objects offering, but the resources have a varying potential for generating competitive advantage in the new market.Tools like the DuPont model and the SVIMA approach has been used in this thesis. The analysis performed does not necessarily provide absolute answers, but it is expected that the contribution can be of importance through small findings which can contribute to continuing work in this area.