Lessons from a Technology Flop : RFID works for WalMart but not small businesses in Sri Lanka
WINTER 2016-2017
By Sarah White
In much of the developing world , small and medium enterprises are a staple of the economy — providing goods , employment , and income for local communities . But small-scale shop owners tend to keep only limited records of their profits and inventories , which can make it tough to manage a business . This lack of data makes it even harder to understand why some microenterprises succeed and others fail .
Enter Radio frequency identification technology ( RFID ). RFID tags are used by major retailers in the United States to record inventory , without having to individually scan each item via barcode . These tags have a small , radio-wave emitting microchip that allows them to store and transmit inventory data for tagged items . When a product with a RFID tag is within range of a reader , the tag reflects a signal back to the reader , which then counts the item .
Researchers from the World Bank and the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka decided to test RFID technology in partnership with 20 microenterprises in Kandy , Sri Lanka — with the goal of generating better data for business management . But it didn ’ t work .
When innovation outsteps practicality There ’ s a lot we can learn from this failure . The research team learned that RFID tags are not only difficult to use , but illsuited for a microenterprise environment . That ’ s because the tags fail to work with commonly sold products , such as food and beauty items , that have high water content or metal packaging . Both water and metal can block the signal headed to the RFID reader . Moreover , given space constraints of a small storefront , it is common practice to stack products high or behind each other — making it ever more difficult to get a reliable count with RFID .
One textile shop owner in Daulagala , Sri
Lanka observed , “ If clothes are stacked on top of each other , or if they are placed on hangers behind each other … the machine has trouble reading properly … the project team has to disturb the arrangement of clothes in the shop . I am quite certain this technology is not useful for my business .”
This project highlights an instance where innovation outsteps practicality . RFID doesn ’ t work with products commonly sold by small business owners , it was complicated and costly to set up , and it wasn ’ t an improvement over the status quo : physical counting of inventory ( or simply surveying business owners ) can generate useful and more accurate information . Most of us agree technology is a critical driver of economic development , but it ’ s also not a silver bullet .
Failing forward What makes this story unique ? This failure was published , providing an opportunity for others to learn . The full story can be found in Development Engineering ( Dev Eng ), a new open access research publication that highlights development innovations — including failures . The journal was launched with support from the Higher Education Solutions Network ( HESN ) at USAID ’ s U . S . Global Development Lab , and is providing evidence on what works ( and what doesn ’ t ) in the field of technology for international development .
RFID Project leads David Mckenzie , Lead Economist at the World Bank , and Suresh de Mel of the University of Peradeniya share their perspective on why they published their findings ,
“ It was important to us that we share this story because measuring microenterprise turnover is notoriously difficult , and we had high hopes that this new technology would provide an objective and new way to measure this . The trial dashed our hopes , but also gave us more confidence in standard survey measures , and we have already heard from others contemplating using this technology who are now considering alternative options as a result
RFID Reader with tagged products ( Photo Credit : David Mckenzie & Suresh de Mel )
of us sharing our failed experience .” Dev Eng is just one of many outlets encouraging dissemination of null results and failures . Other initiatives include the All Trials Campaign which calls for results from all clinical trials to be published . Recently , notable organizations like the World Health Organization have similarly advocated for the public disclosure of both positive and negative clinical trial results . Other outlets include an annual failure report released by Engineers without Borders – Canada and platforms like Admittingfailure . org , which allow civil society organizations a venue to admit , write-up , and publically share their failures .
“ We see major benefits from publishing studies that find weak or no impacts . In global development , there should be no silent failures ; there is inherent value in learning from interventions that fail to achieve their intended impact ,” note the Dev Eng Editorial Leadership , Temina Madon , Ashok Gadgil , and Paul Gertler , in the publication ’ s introductory article ( link is external ).
Sarah White was a project manager at the Center for Effective Global Action . This article was orginally published on USAID ’ s Impact Blog .
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