A study written by four university professors finds that radio frequency identification offers a significant benefit to companies that fully deploy the technology across their entire business operations or supply chain. However, the study also finds that while RFID is gaining momentum when it comes to automating businesses' operational and management functions, few firms have reached the "transformational" stage at which RFID is deployed across multiple operations and departments within a company, as well as across its partners. Only when businesses fully employ the technology across their own operations and those of their partners, the study's authors maintain, can RFID provide them with a true competitive advantage.
