A Study on the Supply Chain Finance (SCF) Adoption on an E-commerce Platform from the Perspective of Competitive Advantages

With the development of the Internet and information technology, Supply Chain Finance (SCF) led by E-commerce emerges as a new financial approach to address the issue of capital-lacking among SMEs. In China, JD SCF is the most typical representative of SCF led by E-commerce. To achieve competitiveness, JD SCF since its establishment constantly adjusts its development strategy, resulting in two well-known significant transformation events that occurred in 2017 (restructuring) and 2021 (re-upgrading). However, there was little research specialized in the JD SCF case to examine SCF’s existence and dynamic changes. Therefore, to fill the research gap, this paper adopts the qualitative theory framework of PEST, VRIO and business model for finding drivers and roles of JD SCF’s adoption played. This study reaffirms that the SCF concept is not fixed but varies with strategic adjustments to chasing competitiveness and may bring some implications for related fields.