Supply Chain Finance Practices in the Digital Transformation

Background and Objectives

Supply Chain Finance (SCF) encompasses various practices for structuring and financing financial flows within supply chains. These include, among others, trade credit, factoring, reverse factoring, dynamic discounting, inventory finance, and platform-based financing models. However, academia and industry use different terms and definitions; furthermore, digitalization, platforms, and data-driven risk assessment are changing the roles of buyers, suppliers, and financial service providers.
As a result, there is a lack of an up-to-date overview that not only lists instruments but also enables a comparison of stakeholder structures, intermediation, information logic, data requirements, and the temporal impact on financial flows.
The aim of this study is to systematically map digital and established SCF practices and to develop an application-oriented taxonomy. This taxonomy is intended to show how individual practices function, which actors are involved, and what data is required for their implementation.

Possible Research Questions

RF1: Which SCF practices are distinguished in academia and practice, and how can they be consistently differentiated from one another?
FF2: How do these practices differ in terms of stakeholder structure, intermediation, financing mechanisms, information logic, and impact on the timing of payment?
FF3: What data and integration requirements characterize digital or platform-based SCF practices?

Methodological Approach

• Systematic literature review on SCF practices, instruments, and digital financing approaches.
• Structured analysis of publicly available offerings from selected banks, fintechs, and SCF platforms.
• Development of a coding manual and a comparative practice matrix based on standardized characteristics.
• Optional: Validation and refinement of the taxonomy through two to four expert interviews.
  Expected Results
• Taxonomy and definitional delineation of key SCF practices.
• A stakeholder, data, and process matrix for the comparative classification of practices.
• Identification of digitalization gaps and entry points for integrating financial, material, and informational flows.

We offer you

• Structured guidance and regular professional exchange.
• Support with systematic literature reviews, qualitative research, and academic writing.
• Access to pre-processed research findings, literature corpora, and methodological groundwork, to the extent that they are relevant to the topic.
• The opportunity to contribute to a joint publication, provided your scholarly contribution meets the necessary standards.
• Well-structured templates for efficient writing.

What You Bring to the Table

• Independence, motivation, and an interest in an interdisciplinary research topic.
• Strong academic performance and a structured approach to work.
• Interest in supply chain management, corporate finance, or digital platforms.
• Previous experience with academic research is a plus.

Supervision and Application
The thesis will be supervised by the Chair of Business Logistics (LFO) at TU Dortmund University. If you are interested, please send your most recent transcripts, a brief cover letter with your resume, and three suggested dates for an initial interview.