Supply Chain Finance and Financing Constraints : Evidence from Chinese Multinational Manufacturing Firms

In today’s highly changing external environment, such as global interest rates and exchange rates, and the changing relationship between the two parties in international trade, the international trade supply chain is gradually mature and stable. In particular, remarkable progress in the development of various products related to supply chain finance (SCF) has been established thanks to the innovation of IT technology including the Internet network. Moreover, supply chain finance (SCF) has shown a breakthrough in the development of product concept and operation mode innovations in the international market with the continuous improvement of Internet technology. The top 50 global banks have all started SCF business. Meanwhile, European and American countries are developing fast, whereas China is still in its infancy in which a certain gap currently exists. However, China obtains a critical position in global supply chain, especially the manufacturing industry occupying a large proportion. Facing huge demand, many of China’s multinational manufacturing industries have been in a weak position in financing and are facing pressure on capital turnover. The ‘One Belt and One Road’ project, a land and sea road network connecting Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, which is the ‘21st century version of the Silk Road’ launched by the Chinese government in 2015, could be a great opportunity to Chinese companies. Still, one of the main reasons for not being able to be fully benefited from it can be found in the sluggish supply chain finance. With the tightening of liquidity caused by the deleveraging of supervision, the generalized SCF will build a stable liquidity tool for core enterprises, primary and secondary suppliers, and more upstream and downstream small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, it will help build a better environment of the industrial chain and thus promote the reform of the financial ecology of the supply chain. Using data of the manufacturing enterprises listed on China’s SMEs Board from 2013 to 2019, this study uses the cash-cashflow sensitivity model to empirically test the financing constraints of SMEs and the role of SCF in alleviating these constraints. From the internal individual characteristics of enterprises and external financial environment, this study introduces enterprise information transparency, external financing cost, and financial development level as moderating variables for further investigation. In the supply chain of multinational corporations, the more peripheral in the supply chain they are, the stronger financial constraints they face . This is due to the fact that in the supply chain of China-based multinational companies engaged in manufacturing, the longer the inventory cycle is, the higher the current debt ratio is, and the standardization of corporate management is insufficient. This study examines the difference in financing constraints of different types of enterprises and the varying alleviating effects of SCF on their financing constraints, and carries out a robustness test on the empirical results. Through empirical analysis, this paper draws the following conclusions: Information transparency and financial development level negatively regulate the mitigating effect of SCF on enterprise financing constraints. In contrast, external financing costs positively regulate the mitigating effect of SCF on enterprise financing constraints.