Addressing the relation between transparency and supply chain finance schemes

In the wake of technological innovation, supply chain transparency has become a concrete avenue for long-awaited improvements to supply chain processes and practices. Transparency is of particular interest to Supply Chain Finance; however, it is yet empirically unknown whether and how benefits would materialise. Being at the interface of finance and operations, Supply Chain Finance aims at improving the inter-company management of financial flows. Nowadays, different financing schemes are offered foremost by cooperation between financial institutions and fintechs. Uncertainty remains on whether and how supply chain transparency would benefit these schemes to allow the adoption of more sophisticated, higher-value schemes. By applying the Gioia method, we analysed a series of interviews with experts from the Supply Chain Finance industry regarding transaction cost economics, agency theory, and dynamic capability. The resulting series of pragmatic, theory-grounded but practice-inspired propositions untangle the relationship and barriers between supply chain transparency and Supply Chain Finance. The propositions provide advances in the theoretical understanding of Supply Chain Finance and uncover relevant directions for future research. This poses the base for actionable results in future research and leads to an impact in research by addressing the concerns and tensions raised by Supply Chain Finance experts.