## 2 Literature Review
### RFID and Supply Chain  
RFID may offer several contributions to SC management, through (i) the identification of products, (ii) ease of communication and (iii) real-time information [8; 9].  
In the last decade, RFIDs have been applied in different types of supply chains for warehouse management, inventory, and asset management [10; 11].  
RFID mainly acts toward an efficient location and traceability of products, as well as their visibility throughout the SC [12; 13]. Through RFID, companies can achieve better SC management by storing more accurate data in their IT systems [14; 15; 16].  
These studies, along with the finding of [17], indicate that reengineering models may increase the possible RFID benefits for all processes of distribution centres and retailers, thus enhancing IT-driven service innovation.  
Other applications of RFID include: [18] inventory routing problems and [19] the visibility of components in an engineering-to-order SC.  
RFID benefits, in terms of competitive advantages, have been assessed by [13] with an interesting investigation in retail networks, while [20] explored potential factors in a vertical SC.  
Along the same lines, [PERSON]. [21] explored the potential enabling factors of RFID in SC, when cost and competitiveness are the priorities of firms.  
Based on these findings we may argue that RFID can bring the following main benefits: (i) cycle-time reduction, (ii) self-service enabling, and (iii) loss prevention. In the food industry, an interesting application of RFID is the one evaluated by [15], to improve the location of products in stores.  
Still in the food sector, Refs. [12; 22] reviewed RFID-based systems to address food safety. These studies considered RFID technology as an operational tool able to increase control over SC operations, thereby ensuring higher food-safety targets.  
The above findings are supported also by the works of [23] and of [24], who concluded that the benefits of RFIDs are mainly in safety, operation times and labour costs. In this research context, we may argue that the main benefits of RFID are in value-chain management and this view may be supported by others [25; 26].  
In comparison with recent scientific contributions, the present work aimed to introduce an RFID technology within a fresh-fruit supply chain under the VCOR framework with an attempt to improve operational cycle times, gain real-time information about inventory levels, and improve service levels by tackling delivery errors. Table 2 summarizes the main research objectives of the implementation of RFID to the observed SC. In Table 2, it is worth noting that the RFID technique has not been considered yet in the framework of the VCOR model, with the aim of improving the management of warehousing operations to the best of the authors' knowledge. This paper attempts to fill this gap in the literature.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l l l} \hline \hline
**Reference** & & & & & **Research Objective** & & & \\ \hline \hline [PERSON] et al. (2020) [27] & ✓ & & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ & & \\ [PERSON] et.al (2020) [28] & ✓ & ✓ & & & & & ✓ & \\ [PERSON] and [PERSON] (2019) [29] & ✓ & & & & & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: Literature classification regarding the research objectives based on RFID.