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.

2022/2023 Supply Chain Finance Research

In the 2022/2023 edition research focuses on 5 macro theme areas, considering the detail topics will be defined by the Research team in collaboration with Observatory Partners.

Research Streams:

• Market & New Opportunities
  The SCF market is undergoing significant change, also considering the entry of new players in the sector and the new opportunities offered by government policies to encourage economic recovery
  Goal – Monitor the evolution of the SCF market in Italy and worldwide also considering government business supporting policies.
  
  
• Platform Economy & Megatrends
  SCF solutions must adapt to new technology trends that are emerging globally.
  Goal – Study how the use of technology platforms enables new SCF business models, also in support of export and sales through e-commerce channels
  
  
• Accounting & Legal
  The attention of institutions and control bodies to SCF instruments is growing strongly, also due to recent events.
  Goal - Monitor the implications in accounting and legal terms also considering the growing transparency required on the use of such programs.
  
  
• Assessment & Benchmarking
  The spread and the success of SCF programs depends on a precise and comprehensive evaluation of their implementation.
  Goal – Provide quantitative indicators that allow a company to assess the effectiveness of the existing SCF solution to measure against the market.
  
  
• Sustainability & Inclusivity
  The unavoidable trend towards a sustainable approach must be integrated within SCF practices.
  Goal - Analyze the impact of SCF solutions on sustainability with a supply chain perspective, expanding the range of players considered and extending beyond the customer-supplier team.

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.