Entrepreneurship and Business
[Barcode]
Barcode
About 60 years ago, the barcode was invented. Barcode refers to the width of the numbers, ranging from black and blank arranged in accordance with certain encoding rules used to express a set of graphic identifier information (Data ID, 2003). This extraordinary invention has stood the test of time. Until now, its impacts and contributions to the commerce and society have been tremendous. This report aims to introduce the background of barcode, examine the concepts from a theoretical perspective and finally, analyse and evaluate it critically.
1. Background
1.1 History
As recorded in the patent documentation, Norm Woodland and Bernard Silver invented a full range of barcode symbols in 1949 (Online Barcode Tutorial, 2005). Before that, no barcode technology had been recorded and put into practical application. At that time, Bernard Silver was just a graduate at Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia. According to Bellis (2009), the owner of a local food chain shop asked the Drexel Institute to research a method to automatically read information of goods such as price and date during checkout. As a result of this enquiry, Bernard Silver developed a solution with Woodland using ultraviolet-sensitive ink (Bar Code 1, 2009). The group established a prototype but it could not be materialised due to its instability and high cost. Actually, barcode has undergone a long period of development after Woodland and Silver’s debut.
1.2 Recognition and Functions
The barcode has enjoyed the boom since it was thrown into market. It has been printed on almost every item in stores (Bar Code 1, 2009). Producers use barcodes to record the information of products. Therefore, the main processes of barcode recognition are scanning and decoding and the rules of barcode encoding depend on its attribute. First of all, barcodes carry unique information such as weight, packaging, specifications and colours of different goods. Additionally, the permanent nature allows each product to have only one barcode which cannot be changed even the product is no longer manufactured.
1.3 Forms
Barcodes have been developed for nearly half a century. During this period, they no long exist in a single form but many derivative forms have been created. The code-class system enables enormous kinds of barcodes to be invented. There are several typical examples as cited below.
- UPC (uniform Product Code)
- EAN
- Interleaved 2-of-5 (ITF25)
- Code bar
Besides these four types, there are other types such as Code 39, Code 128, Code 93 and Code 49. Moreover, there are dimensional barcodes 1D Barcode and 2D Barcode (PDF417) as well as multidimensional barcodes (Agamik Barcoding, 2009 and Bar Code 1, 2009)
2. Analysis
2.1 Disruptive Technology (Discrete Change)
Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) was an economist and political scientist. He raised a viewpoint about entrepreneurial creativity. He popularised the term creative destruction in his book Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy in 1934. He distinguished two kinds of change: gradual change and discrete change. In his opinion, gradual change was sustaining innovation which meant an improvement in product or process, by contrast, discrete change meant product or process transformation and it was a disruptive innovation (Schumpeter, 1966). Based on the definitions above, barcodes should be regarded as a form of discrete change.
Firstly, discrete change is defined as product or process transformation (Binks, 2005). Transformation means an innovation coming out the first time without any similar products. Barcode is the first product carrying the ideas of information storage and checkout. What was mentioned in the lecture is discrete change which cannot be linked to the previous incarnation by small gradual step changes. This demonstrates that barcode was new and unique when Norm Woodland and Bernard Silver invented it.
Secondly, barcode has raised a great reflection when it was first introduced into market. This point meets one of the features of discrete change, which suggests that there should be no previous data on market reflection or customer response. Barcode is the most economical, practical automatic identification technology by far. With no products similar to barcode, both market and customer have accepted it and enjoyed its convenience and benefits.
Thirdly, manufacturers and consumers are accustomed to using barcodes in market activities. It excels other alternative ways in storing goods information, the details of which can be transferred to computer. However, most people choose to use barcodes. Barcodes are similar to sustaining innovations such as cars, pens and bags, but the gradual change may drive customers’ choice because of the latest and newest model rather than technology.
2.2 Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder analysis can be conducted to consider those parties affected. According to Freeman (1984), stakeholders could be either primary or secondary. A stakeholder analysis defines a project’s key stakeholders, assesses their interests, and analyses the condition under which these interests may affect the risk of the project. For example, barcode is a completely new product with vast uncertainties and demands a higher cost for technology. Both primary and secondary stakeholders should take all the uncertainties or risks into account. A stakeholder analysis aims to help investors to reduce uncertainties and calculate risks when barcode is used as a product in the market
Initially, Danneels (2004) said: “a disruptive technology is a technology that changes the bases of competition by changing the performance metrics along which firms compete.” According to this, I will discuss the competition of disruptive change. The primary form of barcode, the 1D barcode, was round. With promotion, 2D barcode was created to replace the 1D barcode. The 2D barcode has been widely used in the market. Besides improvement in storage, the 2D barcode has increased error-correcting capabilities. However, the latest technology is 3D barcode which consists of applied colour and character input (Barcodes Inc, 2009). The competition between the 2D and 3D barcodes has emerged.
According to Hall and Martin (2005), the uncertainties for innovation can be categorised as technological feasibility, commercial viability, capability and social acceptability. Based on my research, the uncertainty of barcodes lies in its technical uncertainty. The fact that barcode is accepted by market as a new form of technology suggests that it is technologically dependent.
3. Impacts and Contributions
3.1 Obstacles Overcome
Barcode has been developed from 1D to 2D (PDF417) and met the technical problems. First of all, 2D barcode has promoted in some aspects. The following table will illustrates the promotion.
|
Items Types |
Information Storage |
Error-correcting Capability |
vertical direction carry information |
Function |
|
1D Barcode |
Less |
There is no error-correcting capability |
No |
Identify the items |
|
2D Barcode (PDF417) |
More |
With the error checking capabilities, could be set a different error correction levels according to different requirements |
Yes |
Describe the items |
Table 1
Besides, due to immature printing technology, the main obstacle barcode encountered was that the printing technology cannot ensure accuracy of barcode identification. In order to solve this problem, the printing technology has improved to keep pace with the change. As a result of the rapid development, accuracy of both the printer and the barcodes are ensured.
3.2 Lessons Learnt
In terms of development, the invention of barcodes suggests that our academic capabilities should not just rest on books, but knowledge should be extended and applied to address different issues. For example, as the inventors of barcodes, Norm Woodland and Bernard Silver did not limit their thinking in the lecture hall, but extended and applied knowledge to practical things relevant to daily life.
Additionally, if we want to establish our own companies or invest in companies, we need to consider other factors such as marketing strategies and risk assessment. These are our essential to help analyse both our own establishment and the market.
Furthermore, technology associated with a product needs to be constantly updated to adapt to the fierce market competition. Every entrepreneur or potential entrepreneur should develop this business sense. For example, the initial form of barcode was quite simple with a fewer functions. As more products enter into the market, simple barcodes cannot meet the demand of a large amount of goods. Under this condition, the 2D barcode has been developed into the 3D one.
3.3 Critical Assessment of Decisions Made
The use of barcode scanning is the next great trend in market due to its obvious advantages. I will discuss four important aspects in relation to the functions and cost but their benefits are not restricted to these areas.
i. Strong reliability
The data error rate is 1/300 using keyboard input; however, the error rate is 1/10,000 using the optical character recognition technology.
ii. High efficiency
Barcode reading is fast which is equivalent to 40 characters per second.
iii. Low cost
Comparing with other automatic identification technology, barcode just requires one piece of sticker and a simple optical scanner. The cost is extremely low.
iv. Huge storage
The 1D barcode can gather dozens of characters whereas the 2D barcode can carry information of thousands of characters with error-correcting function at the same time.
To be sure, barcode is a milestone in information reading technology. The idea is novel and ingenious. However, there are some aspects that need to be improved. For instance, once the barcode is worn and torn, it is difficult to scan and it is easy to lose information. Anyway, improved technology can help to enhance its effectiveness. Undoubtedly, barcodes have influenced many aspects of production and life.
In the above discussion, I have introduced the background of barcodes, examine the concept of discrete change and stakeholder analysis and evaluate the effectiveness of barcodes. (1,494)
References:
Agamik Barcoding (2009). Barcode Types. Downloaded from http://www.agamik.co.uk/symbols.php as at 11/11/2009.
Bar Code 1 (2009). A Short History of Bar Code. Downloaded from http://www.adams1.com/history.html as at 07/11/2009.
Bar Code 1 (2009). Answers to General Bar Code Questions. Downloaded from http://www.adams1.com/faq.html#WhatIsBarcode as at 10/11/2009.
Bar Code 1(2009). All about UPC Barcode & EAN. Downloaded from http://www.adams1.com/upccode.html as at 10/11/2009.
Barcodes Inc (2009). 3D Barcodes (Direct Part Marking or DPM). Downloaded from http://www.barcodesinc.com/articles/3d-barcodes.htm as at 13/11/2009.
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Data ID (2003). What is a Bar code. Downloaded from http://www.dataid.com/whatisbarcode.htm as at 06/11/2009.
Freeman, R (1984). Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Boston: Pitman.
Hall, J.K and Martin, M.J.C (2005). Disruptive technologies, stakeholders and the innovation value-added chain: a framework for evaluating radical technology development [eBook]. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Downloaded from http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/nexus/Nexus_Documents/UG/N1B440/E&Bhallandmartindisruptivetechnologiespaper.pdf as at 10/11/2009.
Online Barcode Tutorial (2005). History of Barcodes . Downloaded from http://www.barcodesymbols.com/history.htm as at 06/11/2009.
Schumpeter, J (1966). Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (11th impression). London: Unwin University Books.