Managing Supply Chain Disruption Risks through Supply Chain Finance: Strategic and Governance Perspectives from the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study explores supply chain finance (SCF) as a strategic and governance-oriented risk management tool to mitigate supply chain disruption risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing upon Liquidity Buffer Theory and Trade Credit Theory, we conceptualize SCF as both a liquidity enhancement mechanism and a governance strategy that stabilizes supply chain relationships under crisis. Using data from 3,561 firms across multiple industries, we employ logistic regression, difference-in-differences (DID), and Cox proportional hazard models to evaluate the effects of SCF adoption on corporate survival, addressing endogeneity through a two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI) IV logit approach. The results show that SCF significantly improves firm survival probabilities by alleviating short-term financing constraints and reinforcing supply chain operational continuity. This study contributes to the risk management literature by highlighting SCF's dual role as a financial risk mitigation and governance strategy, with implications for enhancing supply chain resilience. Practically, managers should integrate SCF into enterprise risk management portfolios, while policymakers should foster SCF ecosystems to reduce systemic supply chain risks in future disruptions.