As discussed in previous parts, blockchain integration emerges as the most promising drive towards digitalisation of the SCF processes. Blockchains pledge to streamline the flow of information in supply chains and achieve the synchronisation of material, information, and financial flows [10, 95]. In the following, we analyse the ways the blockchain-driven SCF has been proposed or shown to address the challenges above based on the review of the academic studies and the industry applications summarised in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. Considering that blockchain solutions apply to different existing problems, understanding the pain points and barriers in SCF processes is necessary to perceive how blockchain can revolutionise SCF. The analysis of the selected literature suggests that lack of visibility in physical supply chain processes, time consuming and inefficient manual paperwork, regulatory and compliance related costs, the risk of fraud, and high transaction costs are essential barriers in SCF in general. From a theoretical viewpoint, this paper contributes to filling a gap in the literature regarding the application of SCF with a SC perspective and exploiting a contingent approach, in multiple ways.

• Literature often considers a single SCF solution (mainly reverse factoring [RF], Lekkakos and Serrano, 2016; Tanrisever et al., 2012) or compares SCF solutions at a single SC stage (Gelsomino et al., 2019).
• Therefore, blockchain could assist in credit checks, diminish compliance costs, and, thus, simplify the establishment of SCF programs.
• The ultimate objective is to align financial flows with product and information flows within the supply chain, improving cash flow management from a supply chain perspective (Wuttke et al., 2013).
• From a managerial viewpoint, this paper might represent the basis to overcome the lack of knowledge about SCF that emerged as a relevant issue in the specific industry, providing knowledge useful to train practitioners on the use of SCF solutions.
• It brings valuable insights about SCF and blockchain, thus placing a foundation to motivate further cross-disciplinary research on this emerging technology and range of financing solutions.

Trade credit is a short-term loan between firms that is tied in both timing and value to the exchange of goods between them (Ferris, 1981). Seifert et al. (2013) point out that the role of trade credit in the global economy is extensive and consequently, it has received considerable attention in the SCF research. Factoring is a type of supplier financing in which firms independently sell their creditworthy accounts receivable at a discount to a financier, the factor, and receive immediate cash (Klapper, 2006; Soufani, 2002).

Does inventory productivity predict future stock returns? A retailing industry perspective

Moreover, Li et al. [94] introduce a blockchain use-case in logistics finance to tackle financing shortages for SME retailers. They propose a blockchain-enabled logistics finance execution platform, whereby retailers, suppliers, commercial institution financers and third-party logistics providers can arrange inventory financing by leveraging dynamic pledge of warehouse operations [94]. An important but still relatively undervalued use case of blockchain technology is Supply Chain Finance (SCF).

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. Blockchain is a digital distributed ledger of time-stamped series of data records that is stored on a cluster of computers where no single entity has control, and the information is visible to all parties [52, 137]. Transactions are broadcasted to the network and the full-node participants validate them directly through the operation of a consensus mechanism [7]. The full-node participants or miners validate whether there is a successful delivery from the sender to the recipient and examine the veracity of the signed acknowledgements provided by the intermediate nodes [63].

Trade credit for supply chain coordination

Reverse factoring is a financial arrangement in which a corporation facilitates early payment of its trade credit obligations to suppliers; this arrangement has received considerable attention from both the business and research communities (van der Vliet et al., 2015; Tanrisever et al., 2012). Current solutions rely on private legal frameworks established through multipartite agreements-contracts to establish rights and liabilities [57]. Hence, the adoption of a stable legal environment is imperative for blockchain-based trade and supply chain finance to succeed [15, 150].

The latter constitute automatable and enforceable agreements that can run on blockchains by coding various contractual terms into computer code [24, 134]. Undoubtedly, there is a resemblance between the programmable nature of smart contracts and the state-contingent character of traditional trade finance procedures, such as documentary collections and L/Cs [17]. For example, trade finance techniques, are usually designed to release a tranche by detecting that some pre-determined conditions have been met, such as that a B/L has been sent or that a shipment has been made [25, 159].

Therefore, further theoretical development is needed to understand the conditions for the establishment of blockchain-based SCF networks. A decentralised and immutable database which enables SCF stakeholders to securely share peer-to-peer digital trade documentation and tokenised assets entails a paradigm shift toward automation, real-time risk management, and cheap, efficient, and inclusive financing at reduced administrative cost [9, 26]. However, there is evidence of opposition from incumbent economic leaders within the banking system to the blockchain transformation in SCF out of fear of being cut-off [149] or of missing revenue streams [101].

Findings and discussion

Considering the rapidly evolving nature of blockchain technology and the paucity of publicly available results on the implementation of blockchain-supported SCF, we have used critical literature review methodology to be able to generate new perspectives [140]. To conduct a transparent and reproducible critical literature review, the process suggested by Torraco [140] and Snyder [128] has been adopted, which was extended by some elements of the PRISMA statement (see Fig. 1). Through the development of case studies in 16 companies, distributed at different SC stages and considering multiple SCF solutions, this paper identified the main solutions implemented by each stage, the main drivers and barriers, and the impact of contingency variables on these solutions. SCF literature has grown over the years because the complexity of SCs requires a better link between financial and physical flows.

Data Integration and Analysis

The Covid-19 pandemic created a financial disruption within supply chains, which is destabilizing especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and could be devastating for the global economy. Supply chain finance (SCF) was an answer to the 2008 financial crisis and could help facing the new challenge, but new paradigms are necessary, to become an effective mitigation strategy. Through the support of empirical data collected through a focus group with industry experts, this note presents new research directions in the SCF domain, based on Contingency Theory and Resource Orchestration Theory, including new solutions, actors, collaborations, technologies, regulations, and performance. Despite the attention received by SCF, few studies consider the involved stakeholders’ different perspectives (Bals, 2019), the different SC stages’ financial needs and which solutions might solve them (Moretto and Caniato, 2021). Most literature analyzes SCF focusing on a single firm or buyer-supplier dyad, without considering their stage along a SC, while different SC stages might have different financial needs and objectives to pursue. For example, usually, retailers are cash-rich, large manufacturers have higher working capital and more need for financing, but also good access to funding, while small upstream suppliers have high financing needs and difficulties in obtaining loans (Miller and Jones, 2010).

The lack of visibility impedes trust and commitment among supply chain partners [46, 119] and foments moral hazard problems [34] as well as more general adverse effects of information asymmetry [35, 91], which result in sub-optimal operational decisions that expose stakeholders in supply chains to financial risks [10, 13, 127]. As a result, many actors in the chain operate in opacity and a large group of MSMEs are precluded from SCF [45], especially if they do not transact directly with the core enterprises [93]. In this context, there are several reasons for undertaking a critical literature review on the interface of blockchain and supply chain finance. First, the industry has expressed a keen interest in adopting new technologies and SCF is well oriented in innovative financing solutions.

The authors acknowledge that the choice of keywords might have excluded some relevant blockchain articles. Here, we aimed to provide a concise discussion of the implications of blockchain in trade and supply chain finance, while a comprehensive discussion on the broader benefits and challenges of blockchain for SCM is beyond the scope of this article and has been provided elsewhere [27, 113, 115, 149]. Second, most industrial projects are at their early stages; hence, there is limited empirical data on the results of these projects. Thus, the conclusions have to be drawn from the analysis of the projects based on restricted information in the public domain as well as theoretical discussions in the literature.

SCF

First, this is one of the most comprehensive reviews of this emerging albeit important topic in supply chain management. Second, the combination of bibliometric and content analysis presents a methodological contribution to a systematic A Contribution to the SCF Literature literature method. Third, the identification of the four clusters and additional insights from the content analysis provide a systematic knowledge structure for SCF based on which actionable ideas for future research are proposed.

The results confirm that SCF solutions become sustainable by integrating different SC sustainability practices, either embedded in the SSCF solutions or reinforced by the implementation of the solutions. Moreover, involving new actors, including third-party information providers, NGOs, and certification bodies, who assume different brokerage roles, positively influences the development of SSCF solutions. In this context, Iansiti and Lakhani [71] developed a blockchain applicability model based on how innovative technologies are naturally being adopted. To this end, Wang et al. [150] propose using sense-making in assisting managerial decision-making, which refers to the process of developing specific assumptions, expectations, and an awareness of the said technology [147], which then frame the actions of the decision makers towards it [99]. Wang et al. [150], thus, focus on managers’ prospective sense-making perspectives and extricate their views on the issues that may negatively influence blockchain diffusion through interviews with 14 supply chain experts. Therefore, cultural hurdles against new innovations, data ownership and intellectual property issues, the lack of standards, costly implementation, security issues and regulatory uncertainties present barriers to blockchain deployment in SCF [120, 159].

The implementation of RF and DD solutions, offered by downstream players to upstream ones, can be driven by the need to increase social and economic SC sustainability. IF and Minibond adoption is driven by stock-related issues, and although all the stages hold inventories, these solutions are mainly adopted upstream and at the processor level. A peculiar case is represented by IF Control, which is more helpful to solve stock-related problems thanks to the warehouse derecognition, but that requires higher investments and volumes, thus being available only to bigger players. Moving upstream, financial issues become a driver to implement a SCF solution (i.e. Minibond, IF) and/or to adhere to a SCF program offered by downstream players (i.e. RF and DD).