Purpose There is a great deal of concern among the Egyptian economy that small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) potentials are not fully used although they dominate it and contribute to its success. The question is what challenges are preventing those SMEs from performing efficiently. This research aims to focus on examining the issues regarding the supply chain of Egyptian SMEs, exploring the areas that need improvement and assessing the impact of technology in enhancing their performance and whether they afford applying it. Design/methodology/approach In this research, semi-structured interviews were conducted at 14 Egyptian SMEs. Then, the business process at six of the fourteen SMEs was observed. After that, a representative sampling was applied and a company was chosen as a representative case company. Moreover, the selected company’s documents were analyzed to capture the full image of the current supply chain performance in Egyptian SMEs. Finally, the Six Sigma DMAIC approach was used to assess the effectiveness of the current supply chain and identify the problems faced and how to deal with these deficiencies. Findings The current process of the supply chain was analyzed and the result shows the obstacles and constrains facing SMEs in Egypt. Despite the clear benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, Egyptian SMEs still do not use it to solve their problems due to its high cost and their low budgets. However, the investigation concludes that SMEs in particular can benefit from the RFID technology and will be able to pay back the cost of the system applied after a certain period of time that is measured by calculating the breakeven point of having the RFID system against the current situation. As a result, improvements were realized and recommended for the organization. Originality/value This research develops a model that suits SMEs in the Egyptian market. The use of a case study approach with a quality measurement tool, namely, the Six Sigma DMAIC approach, especially after surveying several SMEs, and observing the business process at some of them, makes this a thorough investigation which proves that even SMEs can use the RFID technology despite its high cost that hinders its utilization. Thus, this research helps decision-makers in Egyptian SMEs make better informed decisions and guides them to when will they be able to pay back the cost of the system applied.

中文翻译：

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使用 6 西格玛评估埃及中小企业的供应链信息流

目的 埃及经济非常担心中小企业 (SME) 的潜力没有得到充分利用，尽管它们在其中占据主导地位并有助于其成功。问题是哪些挑战阻碍了这些中小企业的有效运作。本研究旨在重点研究埃及中小企业供应链的相关问题，探索需要改进的领域，并评估技术在提高其绩效方面的影响以及他们是否负担得起应用技术。设计/方法/途径 在这项研究中，对 14 家埃及中小企业进行了半结构化访谈。然后，观察了 14 家中小企业中的 6 家的业务流程。之后，进行了代表性抽样，并选择了一家公司作为代表性案例公司。而且，对选定公司的文件进行了分析，以获取埃及中小企业当前供应链绩效的完整图像。最后，使用六西格码 DMAIC 方法来评估当前供应链的有效性，并确定面临的问题以及如何处理这些缺陷。结果 对供应链的当前流程进行了分析，结果显示了埃及中小企业面临的障碍和约束。尽管射频识别 (RFID) 技术具有明显的优势，但由于成本高、预算低，埃及的中小企业仍然没有使用它来解决问题。然而，调查得出的结论是，中小企业尤其可以从 RFID 技术中受益，并能够在一定时间后偿还应用系统的成本，该时间段是通过计算拥有 RFID 系统与当前情况的盈亏平衡点来衡量的。结果，实现了改进并为组织提出了建议。原创性/价值 本研究开发了一种适合埃及市场中小型企业的模型。使用案例研究方法和质量测量工具，即六西格玛 DMAIC 方法，特别是在调查了几家中小企业并观察其中一些企业的业务流程后，使这是一次彻底的调查，证明即使是中小企业也可以使用RFID 技术尽管成本高，但阻碍了其应用。因此，