Supply Chain Finance

The Supply Chain Finance Observatory of the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano was established in 2013 to address the increasing interest of companies and public authorities in the possibilities offered by supply chain finance solutions to optimise their working capital and access to credit.

By Supply Chain Finance, we mean the set of models, solutions and services that can be used to optimise financial performance – especially in terms of controlling working capital – and which exploit knowledge gained from managing supply chain relationships.

The aim of the Observatory is to generate and share knowledge about Supply Chain Finance, and so contribute towards spreading these solutions across the Italian market, to the benefit of all players, and stimulate debate and dialogue by creating a community of C-level executives.

Supply Chain Finance, Observatory Research

The edition research focuses on four macro theme areas, considering the detail topics will be defined by the Research team in collaboration with Observatory Partners.

Supply Chain Finance Maturity:

• Regulatory evolutions for Supply Chain Finance: study the new regulations currently impacting the Supply Chain Finance market (e.g. SCF Disclosure, Late Payment Regulation, CSRD);
• Maturity model for Supply Chain Finance: study the level of adoption and maturity for Supply Chain Finance of Italian companies (SMEs and corporate);
• Supply Chain Finance sectorial approach: study how the characteristics of enterprises (e.g., size/sector/etc.) determine the adoption of specific solutions.

Generative Supply Chain Finance:

• Gen AI for Supply Chain Finance: analyze the impact of generative AI at the process level, with real-life case studies and mapping of Supply Chain Finance processes to understand the impact of the technology;
• Supply Chain Risk and cyber-risk management: Understand what supply chain risks can be reduced by SC and how to use AI to support identification, assessment, and monitoring.

Impactful Supply Chain Finance:

• Analysis of ESG information providers: mapping and analysis of supplier evaluation methods adopted, with focus on possible integrations with Supply Chain Finance solutions;
• Circular Economy and Supply Chain Finance: analysis of the impact of circular economy on supply chain financial and information flows in which Supply Chain Finance becomes a means of supporting circular economy projects;
• Social Sustainable Supply Chain Finance: analysis of sustainable Supply Chain Finance solutions, focused on social aspects and support for smaller and weaker suppliers.

Supply Chain Finance Ecosystem:

• the Supply Chain Finance market: quantifying the potential and served market for Supply Chain Finance in Italy, monitoring the most innovative solutions (e.g., Deep- Tier financing) and differences across industries;
• Supply Chain Finance ecosystems: analyzing the various Supply Chain Finance ecosystems, exploring how they are orchestrated, what makes them attractive relative to one another, and the differences between bank-driven and platform-driven ecosystems.

The Observatory is also part of the International Supply Chain Finance Community (www.scfcommunity.com), an organization that generates and shares knowledge on the Supply Chain Finance concept, developing activities, projects, and initiatives to support the dissemination and implementation of solutions mainly at European level.

A distinctive element of the Supply Chain Finance Observatory is the Advisory Board: a Community of Managers of distribution/manufacturing companies in a variety of fields (primarily Finance, Logistics & Supply Chain, Purchasing and ICT), that discusses and comments the contributions shared by the Research Team and participates by offering the experience developed daily in field.