Purpose

Since 2008’s financial crisis, attention toward supply chain finance (SCF) has increased. However, most research investigates SCF considering single supply chain (SC) stages or buyer–supplier dyads and focuses on a single SCF solution. It is important to see how different solutions are adopted at different SC stages, by actors with different financing needs. This study aims to analyze SCF at different SC stages, to understand why different solutions are implemented at different SC stages and the contingency factors (regulation, SC stage, product category and size) influencing their adoption.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on multiple exploratory case studies in the Italian agri-food industry, considering firms distributed at different SC stages and adopting multiple SCF solutions. The paper exploits a contingent approach (Sousa and Voss, 2008) to analyze how contingent factors influence SCF adoption at different SC stages.

Findings

Findings explain how and why different SC stages (producer, cooperative, processor and retailer) implement different SCF solutions (reverse factoring, dynamic discounting, inventory finance and Minibond), describing contingency variables’ impact on their adoption.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the research is original in its description of SCF at different SC stages, considering different SC actors’ drivers and barriers, and questioning the importance of a coordinated approach in SCF adoption along an entire SC. Moreover, the paper adopts a contingent approach, contributing to SCF research, seldomly based on theoretical lenses.

中文翻译：

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探索不同供应链阶段的供应链金融：基于农业食品行业的案例研究

目的

自2008年金融危机以来，供应链金融（SCF）的关注度有所提高。然而，大多数研究在考虑单一供应链 (SC) 阶段或买方-供应商二元组的情况下调查供应链金融，并侧重于单一供应链金融解决方案。重要的是要了解具有不同融资需求的参与者在不同的 SC 阶段如何采用不同的解决方案。本研究旨在分析不同供应链阶段的供应链金融，了解为什么在不同供应链阶段实施不同的解决方案，以及影响其采用的偶然因素（监管、供应链阶段、产品类别和规模）。

设计/方法/途径

本文基于意大利农业食品行业的多个探索性案例研究，考虑了分布在不同 SC 阶段并采用多种 SCF 解决方案的公司。本文利用一种偶然的方法（Sousa 和 Voss，2008 年）来分析偶然因素如何影响供应链金融在不同阶段的采用。

发现

调查结果解释了不同供应链阶段（生产商、合作社、加工商和零售商）如何以及为什么实施不同的供应链金融解决方案（逆向保理、动态贴现、库存融资和迷你债券），描述了权变变量对其采用的影响。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，该研究在描述不同 SC 阶段的 SCF 时是原创的，考虑了不同 SC 参与者的驱动因素和障碍，并质疑在整个 SC 采用 SCF 时采用协调方法的重要性。此外，本文采用了一种偶然的方法，为供应链金融研究做出了贡献，很少基于理论视角。