Foundations of Supply Chain Finance
Working Capital and the SCF Ecosystem
Why firms run out of cash even when profitable. The cash conversion cycle, working capital trade-offs, and the ecosystem of buyers, suppliers, and financial intermediaries that power modern supply chain finance.
Trade Credit & Receivables Finance
Factoring, Reverse Factoring, Dynamic Discounting
How suppliers convert future receivables into immediate cash. Traditional factoring, buyer-led reverse factoring programs, and dynamic discounting as competing SCF instruments with different risk and cost profiles.
Inventory Finance
Warehouse Receipts, Commodity Lending, Capital Constraints
Using physical inventory as collateral to unlock financing. Warehouse receipt systems, commodity-backed lending structures, and how capital constraints reshape classical inventory decisions like the newsvendor problem.
Futures & Hedging
Forwards, Futures, Options, and Basis Risk
Managing commodity price risk across the supply chain. Forward and futures contract mechanics, hedging strategies, basis risk, and an introduction to options for supply chain managers who need to lock in costs without sacrificing upside.
FinTech & Platform-Based SCF
Digital Platforms, Blockchain, Credit Analytics
How technology is reshaping trade finance. Digital SCF platforms that connect multi-tier supply chains, blockchain and smart contracts for automated settlement, and data-driven credit scoring that replaces traditional relationship lending.
Stochastic Models & Capital Pricing
CAPM, Black-Scholes, Real Options
The quantitative backbone of financial decision-making. From the Capital Asset Pricing Model to geometric Brownian motion and the Black-Scholes formula, with derivation sketches and applications to real options in supply chain investment.
Recommended Textbooks
- Hofmann et al., Supply Chain Finance and Blockchain Technology (Springer)
- Hull, Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives (Pearson)
- Brealey, Myers & Allen, Principles of Corporate Finance
Interactive Simulations
Prerequisites
- Financial Accounting (balance sheets, income statements)
- Basic Statistics (mean, variance, distributions)
- Introductory Calculus (derivatives, integrals)