Supply Chain Finance and Corporate Financial Performance: Causal Identification Based on the Instrumental Variable Method

Abstract

In recent years, supply chain finance has gradually become an important model to alleviate financing problems and enable the development of enterprises, but its causal effect is vulnerable to endogenous problems. This paper takes supply chain finance and corporate financial performance as the research theme, selects China's A-share listed companies from 2020 to 2024 as the research sample, and uses the instrumental variable method to carry out a causal identification test. It is found that there are obvious endogenous errors in ordinary OLS estimates and underestimate the real effect. After correction, it is found that supply chain finance can significantly improve the financial performance of enterprises. The analysis of heterogeneity shows that this effect is more obvious in small-scale enterprises, and the difference between different property rights is not significant. Several robustness tests, such as replacement of core indicators and propensity score matching, all confirmed the reliability of the conclusion. This study clarifies the causal relationship between supply chain finance and enterprise financial performance and improves the literature on causal identification in the field of supply chain finance. It also provides empirical reference for enterprises to optimize supply chain financing arrangements, and for the government to introduce policies to accurately support small and medium-sized enterprises and manage supply chain financial risks.