CBA Lauded in Princeton Review Guidebook Akron, Ohio, Dec. 9, 2004 — The University of Akron's College of Business Administration (CBA) has been included in the 2005 edition of The Princeton Review's Best 143 Business Schools. The book provides narrative descriptions of the schools to prospective students, and gives current students' opinions on factors such as academics, admissions, career and placement assistance, and student life and environment. The guidebook noted that UA's business students are proud that the college is focused on the latest business trends, and that it is one of a few business schools nationwide with an e-business concentration. “The greatest strength of the College of Business at The University of Akron is the professors,” one student wrote. The two-page review also noted the College's Center for Information Technology and e-Business, Center for Organizational Development, Fisher Institute for Professional Selling, Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and Institute for Global Business. “The mission of the College of Business is to help our students hone their leadership skills and master a creative and analytical approach to solving problems in the business world,” says Dean James Barnett. “It is gratifying to see that the hard work of our faculty and staff is being recognized by this prestigious guide to business schools.” In addition to CBA's recognition in the Best 143 Business Schools, The University of Akron also has been included in the new edition of The Princeton Review's Best Midwestern Colleges: 150 Great Schools to Consider. Are Companies Ready for RFID? by Dr. Barbara Osyk and Dr. B. S. Vijayaraman Where do companies stand in the implementation of RFID technology? A survey instrument was mailed to 1,495 member companies of WERC in August 2004 and a total of 211 responses were received. The survey results indicated that 44% of the respondents are not considering RFID technology at present and only 14% were either pilot testing or implementing RFID technology. Walmart compliance and better inventory and supply chain visibility were the top reasons for deploying RFID among companies that are implementing or considering RFID. These companies are planning to invest a significant amount of money into this technology over the next three years. Most of the cost savings are expected to come from minimizing out of stock and inventory losses. A reduction in labor costs due to less material handling was also expected. It is clear from the survey that a number of concerns still exist and there appears to be a fair amount of skepticism among manufacturing companies about the potential for RFID to deliver cost savings or a positive ROI in the near future. The retailers are the most optimistic and expect a positive ROI. There was a strong agreement among the respondents that retailers will see both cost savings and benefit from RFID and retailers will gain more than manufacturers. Other concerns of the survey respondents were integration, standards, and security. None of the RFID adopting companies is very satisfied with RFID implementation. Satisfaction with respect to performance and back-end integration were both higher than satisfaction with security and cost. The overall satisfaction with the RFID project was very low. This research was supported by a grant from Warehousing Education and Research Council