Supply Chain Financing

This book is a comprehensive introduction to supply chain financing as a business model that enables companies to reduce costs, improve their working capital and manage risks more tightly. Supply chain financing is using the supply chain to fund the organization and using the organization to fund the supply chain. Supply chain financing is of growing importance, the book explains what supply chain funding is and its different components as well as its impact and potential not only on companies using it, but more globally. The content moves from the basics of supply chain management to how to structure a global supply chain finance program in today's marketplace, the emergence of fintech providers, and alternative methods of payment, while also offering a view of the future that incorporates new platforms and analytical tools to optimize efficiencies in an organization and increase working capital flows.Supply Chain Financing is based on the authors' research and teaching at two leading US business schools. This book is useful for supply chain or finance professionals, decision makers in corporate disciplines, as well as students and professors in business fields.

The vast majority of international trade is supported by some form of trade financing: a specialized, sometimes complex form of financing that is poorly understood even by bankers and seasoned finance and treasury experts. Financing Trade and International Supply Chains takes the mystery out of trade and supply chain finance, providing a practical, straightforward overview of a discipline that is fundamental to the successful conduct of trade: trade that contributes to the creation of economic value, poverty reduction and international development, while increasing prosperity across the globe. The book suggests that every trade or supply chain finance solution, no matter how elaborate, addresses some combination of four elements: facilitation of secure and timely payment, effective mitigation of risk, provision of financing and liquidity, and facilitation of transactional and financial information flow. The book includes observations on the effective use of traditional mechanisms such as Documentary Letters of Credit, as well as an overview of emerging supply chain finance solutions and programs, critical to the financing of strategic suppliers and other members of complex supply chain ecosystems. The important role of export credit agencies and international financial institutions is explored, and innovations such as the Bank Payment Obligation are addressed in detail. Financing Trade and International Supply Chains is a valuable resource for practitioners, business executives, entrepreneurs and others involved in international commerce and trade. This book balances concept with practical insight, and can help protect the financial interests of companies pursuing opportunity in international markets.

The book “Supply Chain Finance Solutions” offers orientation in the new discipline of Supply Chain Finance (SCF) by investigating the need for and nature of SCF, along with its characteristics and enablers. Due to the novelty of the Supply Chain Finance approach, there are still many knowledge gaps. This lack of research leads to uncertainties about the successful implementation of SCF solutions within companies as there is little quantified evidence on the achievable cost savings and other potential benefits. The authors close this gap by providing the latest information on business concepts and the SCF market. Based on a sample SCF model, the worldwide market size for such solutions and potential cost savings to companies engaged in SCF are analyzed. The work underlines the generally agreed-upon attractiveness and future relevance of SCF solutions by creating win-win situations; for all actors in the end-to-end supply chain as well as for external service providers.

Supply Chain Finance focuses is on creating liquidity in the supply chain through various Buyer or Seller-led solutions with or without a facilitating technology. The role of supply chain finance (SCF) is to optimize both the availability and cost of capital within a given buyer-supplier supply chain. To add further value, information on the physical flow of goods can be monitored. The coupling of information enables lenders to mitigate financial risk within the supply chain. The mitigation of risk allows more capital to be raised, capital to be accessed sooner, or capital to be raised at lower rates. Supply chain participants reside in diverse economic environments, are of different sizes, face a variety of uncertainties, have different bargaining powers over its trading partners, and have different accessibilities to capital markets. Many forms of financing arrangements between buyers and suppliers have emerged intending to overcome challenges in their specific economic and business environments. Part 1 examines Supplier Financing. The three papers included in this section discuss supplier based financing issues including: motivation and rationale for supplier based financing, the optimal mix of bank financing and supplier financing, and empirical study of the impact of trade credit on firm performance. Part 2 focuses on Buyer Financing including three papers included that discuss buyer based financing issues in supply chains including the rationales of different types of buyer based financing arrangements and their impacts on supply chain performance. Part 3 reviews Inventory Models and Financing Consideration and the two papers in this part of the book explore how to coordinate the management of the cash flow and inventory flow within an organization and the relationship between a firm's inventory policy and its cost of capital. Part 4 examines Operational Investments and Financing Issues and includes four papers that address operational investments with explicit financing considerations.

This book investigates how the Blockchain Technology (BCT) for Supply Chain Finance (SCF) programs allows businesses to come together in partnerships and accelerate cash flows throughout the supply chain. BCT promises to change the way individuals and corporations exchange value and information over the Internet, and is perfectly positioned to enable new levels of collaboration among the supply chain actors. The book reveals new opportunities stemming from the application of BCT to SCF financing solutions, particularly reverse factoring – or approved payables financing. To do so, it first identifies the principal barriers and pain points in delivering financing solutions. Then, a possible blockchain-driven supply chain model is defined. Using this framework, the book subsequently discusses relevant use cases for the technology, which could open up new opportunities in the SCF space. It demonstrates that blockchain and distributed ledgers technologies could deliver substantial benefits for all parties involved in SCF transactions, promising to expedite the processes and lower the overall costs of financing programs. Industry giants such as IBM, Maersk, China-based Dianrong and FnConn (a Foxconn subsidiary) are currently working to digitize the global, cross-border supply chain using blockchain technology, and will likely soon create blockchain platforms for supply chain finance. These solutions aim to reduce complexity and make data sharing more secure, accurate and efficient. This book offers a highly topical resource for stakeholders across the entire supply chain, helping them prepare for the upcoming technological revolution.

An introduction to financial tools and concepts from an operations perspective, addressing finance/operations trade-offs and explaining financial accounting, working capital, investment analysis, and more. Students and practitioners in engineering and related areas often lack the basic understanding of financial tools and concepts necessary for a career in operations or supply chain management. This book offers an introduction to finance fundamentals from an operations perspective, enabling operations and supply chain professionals to develop the skills necessary for interacting with finance people at a practical level and for making sound decisions when confronted by tradeoffs between operations and finance. Readers will learn about the essentials of financial statements, valuation tools, and managerial accounting. The book first discusses financial accounting, explaining how to create and interpret balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements, and introduces the idea of operating working capital—a key concept developed in subsequent chapters. The book then covers financial forecasting, addressing such topics as sustainable growth and the liquidity/profitability tradeoff; concepts in managerial accounting, including variable versus fixed costs, direct versus indirect costs, and contribution margin; tools for investment analysis, including net present value and internal rate of return; creation of value through operating working capital, inventory management, payables, receivables, and cash; and such strategic and tactical tradeoffs as offshoring versus local and centralizing versus decentralizing. The book can be used in undergraduate and graduate courses and as a reference for professionals. No previous knowledge of finance or accounting is required.

Supply Chain Finance is a contributed book looking at the two major perspectives of managing finance across the supply chain. The first is more short-term, focused on accounts payables and receivables. The second is a more overarching perspective, focused on working capital optimization in terms of inventory and asset management. It includes chapters from a variety of research perspectives, as well as from business and policymakers. The authors look at the benefits of the supply chain finance approach including reduction of working capital, access to more funding at lower costs, risk reduction, as well as an increase of trust, commitment, and profitability through the chain. Supply Chain Finance includes theory as well as practical case studies addressing advances in the area of supply chain finance. The editors and contributors look at how to design and implement supply chain finance in supply chains and examine what the future holds for this important area. Online supporting resources include self-test multiple-choice and essay questions for each chapter.

Financing the End-to-End Supply Chain provides readers with a real insight into the increasingly important area of supply chain finance. It demonstrates the importance of the strategic relationship between the physical supply of goods and services and the associated financial flows. The book provides a clear introduction, demonstrating the importance of the strategic relationship between supply chain and financial communities within an organization. It contains vital information on how supply chain finance is operationalised and put into place. It is written in a user-friendly style, starting with the purchasing function, and linking together treasury, banking, supply chain, systems, IT, and key stakeholders. Financing the End-to-End Supply Chain will help senior supply chain and procurement practitioners to build collaboration, improve relationships and enhance trust between supply chain partners. With its combination of theory and practice it tackles vital issues including physical, information and financial flows, and tailoring supply chain finance to individual organisations' circumstances. Recognising that supply chain finance means different things in different countries, the authors also consider various initiatives to harmonize and develop cross-border financing from the World Bank and other institutions, as well as including an agenda for national and international policy makers. Financing the End-to-End Supply Chain offers a mix of academic and industrial expertise and is written by three authors who are experts in the field. The book contains ground-breaking research and data from the Cranfield School of Management.