RFID supply chains of Purdue and Cephalon: Applying the TOE framework in seeking e-pedigree compliance

The adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) is expected to pick up speed in the pharmaceutical industry as the U.S. government has imposed a regulation requiring the generation of pedigrees or a historical record of the movement of prescription drugs through different supply chain nodes. ”Electronic” pedigrees require the use of electronic means to establish these records of custody. RFID is perceived to be a leading and promising technology for accelerating e-pedigree deployment among prescription drug firms. This qualitative descriptive study uses Tornatzky and Fleischer´s (1990) technology-organization-environment (TOE) theoretical framework to analyze and understand the RFID implementation of two firms, Purdue Pharmaceuticals and Cephalon, as they seek to meet the e-pedigree requirement.