Towards an Ecosystem of Operational Supply Chain Finance for MSMEs : An exploratory case study on GNA Gears Ltd, India

The discipline of supply chain management has long been established and described with structure, coordination, and integration of the three flows of supply chains: material, information, and financial flows. Supply Chain Finance (SCF) can be described as an ecosystem for the interaction of buyers and suppliers within a supply chain. This ecosystem has slowly been extending for the inclusion of supply chain networks as well, particularly by large Multi-National Corporations. SCF gained significant attention and became critical after the financial crisis of September 2008. As supply chains were threatened by the lack of liquidity and increased competition reinforced by the ever-increasing globalization, the demand for alternative financing by the organizations kept growing. This study can be defined as a qualitative exploratory study due to the lack of empirical evidence of SCF application and attitudes among the MSMEs in the Indian business environment. The case study method has been adopted in light of the emphasis on the contemporary phenomenon of Supply Chain Finance within the context of GNA Gears Ltd. in India. The study of SCF application and its influence is limited to the performance of the individual firm and not the supply chain network. The analysis integrated all data sources, including a structured questionnaire, semi-structured interview, and the company’s financial data. The study revealed that the extent of adoption of collaborative SCF approaches at the operational level remained to be meager owing to five main factors, namely, organizational practices and policies-related, finance-related, macro-institutional-related, human resources, and inter-firm related factors