infonet-economy

The paper at hand pays attention to the possibilities to set free the sleeping potential that is lying in the flow of financial resources in the supply chain, using a cash flow management framework that allows the efficient identification and steering of these tools. The analysis of shareholder value drivers reveals a direct link between collaborative cash flow management and the creation of shareholder value for the participating companies. An isolated usage of financial instruments alone is not efficient since collaborative cash flow management is directly tied to the members' operational processes. Real improvements can only be reached if the financial and operational processes are jointly considered. This insight becomes especially obvious when looking at the collaborative cash-to-cash cycle as well as for the other instruments of collaborative cash flow management. Consequently, it is only by the right management of the combined financial and operational processes that the greatest value for the supply chain collaboration can be created. The study further brings to light that companies who are not willing to consider collaborative approaches to financial processes in the supply chain not only forgo the chance to enhance their shareholder value, they actually destroy it. The paper is a first step into the new field of collaborative cash flow management, an approach drawing increasing attention in theory and even more in practice.