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Journal of Intelligent Management
Edited By: Editorial Office | Online ISSN: 3080-2350 | Print ISSN: 3008-1742
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Latest IssueVolume 2, Issue 1June 2026

Volume 1 | Issue 2 | Published 2025-12-25

Supply Chain Finance and Innovation Performance: A Systematic Literature Review and research implications

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64025/j.lmjim.25.233044

Received: 2025-11-03 | Revised: 2025-11-20 | Accepted: 2025-12-02 | Published: 2025-12-25

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Abstract

This systematic literature review investigates the relationship between supply chain finance (SCF) and innovation performance, aiming to synthesize current knowledge, identify the current status of research and changes in research themes, and reveal future research directions in this rapidly evolving field. The study reviewed 58 high-quality articles published in Web of Science and Scopus, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines. A content analysis by keywords was employed for publication trends and topic analysis. Three primary research themes emerged: (1) SCF as a Driver of Innovation Performance, (2) Green and Sustainable SCF, and (3) Digitalization and FinTech-Enabled Supply Chain Innovation. It is limited by database scope, language restrictions, and potential selection bias. Future studies should broaden data sources and incorporate empirical validation to enhance the robustness of the findings. The findings provide practitioners with strategic guidance for the implementation of SCF, emphasizing the importance of digital transformation and green innovation orientation. For policymakers, the results highlight the critical role of institutional environment quality in moderating SCF effectiveness and the need for supportive regulatory frameworks. The review synthesizes the two fields of SCF and innovation performance. It makes a contribution to the field by revealing the thematic evolution and proposing a future research agenda aligned with sustainability imperatives and digital transformation.

Highlight

* Synthesizes current knowledge on the supply chain finance -innovation performance relationship via PRISMA 2020-compliant analysis of 58 high-quality articles, identifying three core research themes: SCF as an innovation driver, green sustainable SCF, and digital/FinTech-enabled supply chain innovation. * Contributes to the academic field by revealing the thematic evolution of SCF-innovation research and proposing a future agenda integrated with sustainability and digital transformation imperatives. * Addresses the need for systematic integration of SCF and innovation performance research, providing strategic guidance for practitioners and regulatory insights for policymakers while acknowledging existing methodological limitations.

Keywords

SCF, innovation performance, systematic literature review, PRISMA

Authors & Affiliations

Citation

Zhu, W., Chen, G., & Khaw, K. W. (2025). Supply Chain Finance and Innovation Performance: A Systematic Literature Review and research implications. Journal of Intelligent Management, 1(2), 33-44. https://doi.org/10.64025/j.lmjim.25.233044

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1. Introduction

In the context of global economic digital transformation and supply chain restructuring, SCF has emerged as a critical bridge connecting financial innovation with operational management, increasingly attracting widespread attention from both academic and business communities regarding its impact mechanisms on enterprise innovation performance. SCF is a financial model that provides financing and settlement services to companies in the supply chain. These services are based on supply chain relationships, through the credit and information sharing of core enterprises. The purpose of this financial model is to optimize capital flow, reduce financing costs and improve the overall efficiency of the supply chain [1]. According to Global Growth Insights [2], the global SCF market is projected to grow from USD 8.68 billion in 2024 to USD 18.99 billion by 2033, representing a compound annual growth rate of 9.08% during 2025–2033. Simultaneously, with the advancement of the Paris Agreement and various national “dual carbon” goals, green innovation has become a key driver for enterprises to maintain competitive advantage, further highlighting the importance of understanding the relationship between SCF and innovation performance. The European Commission’s “Sustainable Finance Taxonomy” also emphasizes the critical role of financial instruments in promoting green innovation [3]. In addition, a growing body of literature has examined SCF from operational and financial perspectives. Nevertheless, the extant research on the relationship between SCF and innovation performance remains fragmented. Earlier studies focused primarily on single mechanisms, such as trade credit, factoring, or reverse factoring. These were often treated as isolated financing tools without embedding them in the broader supply chain context [4, 5]. Recent studies have emphasized the capacity of SCF to enhance firms' innovation capabilities by mitigating financial limitations and promoting inter-organization collaboration [6]. In current studies, a significant proportion of them on this subject remains descriptive or limited to case studies, and comprehensive reviews systematically tracing the evolution, scope, and implications of SCF for innovation performance are still scarce [4]. Furthermore, extant research has a tendency to focus either on financial outcomes or operational efficiency, frequently overlooking the multidimensional pathways through which SCF can enable or constrain innovation [7]. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the following overarching research question: How does SCF affect firm innovation performance? To answer this question, this study explores three interrelated sub-questions: (1) What is the current status of academic research on the impact of SCF on innovation performance? (2) What are the research topics on the impact of SCF on innovation performance in existing research? (3) What future research directions can be proposed to gain a more comprehensive understanding of SCF and innovation performance? In order to address the aforementioned research questions, the present study conducts a systematic literature review to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between SCF and innovation performance. Specifically, this study aims to: (1) analyze the current state of research on the impact of SCF on innovation performance, summarizing key publication trends, the most influential authors, etc.; (2) identify and categorize the main research themes emerging from prior studies to clarify how scholars have conceptualized and examined this relationship; and (3) propose future research directions to deepen understanding of SCF’s role in fostering innovation. This study makes several key contributions. Theoretically, it bridges financial and innovation perspectives within supply chain management, revealing how SCF mechanisms foster innovation. Practically, it offers actionable insights for SMEs and policymakers to leverage SCF for sustainable growth. Methodologically, it employs a PRISMA-based SLR approach integrating bibliometric and content analysis to ensure rigor and transparency. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Section 2 outlines the review methodology; Section 3 reports descriptive and thematic findings; Section 4 presents discussion and conclusion with implications, limitations, and future research directions.

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5. Discussion and Conclusion 5.1. Discussion The subject of SCF and innovation performance was first systematically explored by Wuttke, Blome [41], whose pioneering study laid the foundation for understanding financial flow innovations within supply chains and remains the most influential work in this field. It is evident that research interest has grown substantially over time, particularly after 2020. A sharp increase in publications was observed in 2025, which reflects the rising academic recognition of SCF as a crucial enabler of innovation. It is noteworthy that the majority of studies have been conducted in China, thus emphasizing its active engagement in SCF research and practical adoption. In contrast, contributions from other countries remain limited. A comprehensive review of the extant literature reveals three primary research themes: first, the role of SCF as a driver of innovation performance, with a focus on how SCF mitigates financing constraints and stimulates firms' innovation capabilities; second, the focus on Green and Sustainable SCF, examining how SCF mechanisms promote environmentally responsible innovation and sustainability practices; and third, the examination of Digitalization and FinTech-Enabled Supply Chain Innovation, with a focus on how technologies such as blockchain, IoT, and big data enhance the efficiency and inclusiveness of SCF systems [42]. Collectively, these themes illustrate the progression of SCF research from its inception as a foundation for theoretical exploration to its current manifestation as multidimensional, technology-driven applications that integrate innovation, sustainability, and digital transformation. 5.2 Theoretical Implications This review offers several theoretical contributions to research at the intersection of SCF, innovation performance, and digital transformation. These contributions are categorized into four key areas. Firstly, it advances the conceptualization of SCF, moving beyond a mere financial coordination mechanism to a strategic enabler of innovation capabilities. This study integrates perspectives from supply chain management, corporate finance, and innovation theory to demonstrate how SCF alleviates financing constraints and creates value by improving resource allocation and risk sharing [50, 51]. In doing so, it links cash flow management with innovation performance. Secondly, it draws upon extant research to reveal the role of digital technologies and FinTech in transforming traditional SCF systems into innovation-oriented and data-driven ecosystems [42]. This theoretical framework provides a foundation for understanding the co-evolution of financial and technological capabilities within the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Thirdly, the findings contribute to understanding SCF from an institutional and sustainability perspective. The mounting emphasis on the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, along with the increasing focus on sustainable SCF (sustainable capital formation), underscores the role of SCF as a pivotal mechanism for fostering sustainable value creation and risk management [54]. This development unveils novel theoretical pathways for integrating financial innovation with sustainability transformation and organizational resilience. Lastly, this study contributes to the methodological foundation for future SCF research by combining a systematic literature review with content analysis. It provides a meta-theoretical perspective that allows scholars to track the field's intellectual evolution, thematic clusters, and citation dynamics. 5.3 Practical and Social Implications From a management and policy perspective, this research provides practical insights for enhancing innovation through the integration of finance and technology across supply chains. The findings indicate that managers who adopt SCF practices supported by digital technologies, such as blockchain, the Internet of Things, and big data, can achieve substantial improvements in liquidity management, reduce transaction costs, and strengthen supplier relationships [42]. The strategic integration of SCF into innovation management processes has been demonstrated to enhance operational resilience and innovation performance in businesses, particularly SMEs. The findings underscore the imperative for policymakers and financial institutions to devise regulatory frameworks and digital financial infrastructure that are conducive to the broader adoption of SCF, particularly among SMEs operating in developing economies. The promotion of Fintech-based SCF solutions has the potential to reduce financing asymmetries, stimulate technological upgrading, and support inclusive industrial development. From a societal perspective, SCF and its sustainable development variants play a vital role in promoting equitable growth and financial inclusion. By facilitating enhanced access to financial resources for SMEs, these mechanisms contribute to the dissemination of innovation and the fortification of local supply networks. In the broader societal context, SCF innovations are aligned with global development goals by promoting the sustainability, transparency, and economic resilience of interconnected value chains. 5.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research Despite the fact that this review complies with the PRISMA protocol and integrates bibliometric and content analyses to ensure systematic rigor, there are several limitations that open avenues for future inquiry. Firstly, it is important to note that the review encompasses exclusively English-language journal articles that have been indexed in Web of Science and Scopus. This may potentially result in the exclusion of valuable insights from non-English or regional publications, particularly those that focus on emerging economies. Future studies could broaden the linguistic and database scope to include Chinese, Spanish, and other regional databases (e.g., CNKI, SciELO) to capture more context-specific perspectives [55, 56]. Secondly, the current research landscape is heavily concentrated in China, reflecting both the country's rapid development in digital finance and its strong manufacturing-based supply chain ecosystem. However, there is a notable absence of cross-country comparative studies that examine the institutional, cultural, and regulatory factors shaping the adoption and impact of SCF in other regions, such as Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. It is recommended that future research explore these diverse contexts in order to ascertain how regional differences influence SCF mechanisms and innovation outcomes. Thirdly, extant studies predominantly concentrate on firm-level effects, neglecting the network-level and ecosystem-level dynamics of SCF. It is recommended that future research adopts a multi-tier or supply network perspective in order to examine how inter-organizational relationships, trust structures, and digital platforms collectively affect innovation diffusion. Fourthly, methodological limitations persist. The majority of studies utilize cross-sectional or case-based designs, which constrain causal inference and temporal analysis. It is recommended that future research employ longitudinal datasets, panel methods, and mixed-method approaches (e.g., combining bibliometric mapping, structural modelling, and qualitative comparative analysis) to capture the dynamic interactions among SCF, technological adoption, and innovation capability over time. In conclusion, as sustainability and digitalization increasingly converge, it is imperative that scholars further investigate the integration of ESG principles, green finance mechanisms, and digital platforms within SCF systems. A theoretical and policy investigation into the potential of sustainable SCF to facilitate circular economy transitions and inclusive growth in SMEs could yield significant theoretical and policy insights for both emerging and developed economies. 5.5 Conclusion This systematic literature review reveals that SCF plays a crucial role in bridging financial and innovation ecosystems, particularly through the adoption of digital technologies and sustainability-oriented practices. The field has evolved from exploratory conceptualizations toward more empirically grounded and technologically enriched models. In the context of increasingly uncertain global supply chains, SCF has the potential to become a fundamental element of financial resilience and innovation-driven growth. It is imperative that ongoing interdisciplinary collaboration and methodological diversification are employed in order to fully realize the theoretical and practical potential of the subject.
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