Trade Credit in Global Supply Chains

Abstract
This study examines how trade credit is utilized in global supply chains, using a unique dataset that includes information on firm-level supplier-customer relationships for major firms in the global economy. We focused on two potential factors of trade credit: firms’ upstreamness in global supply chains and competition among suppliers, or similarly, the bargaining power of customers. Although recent literature found a positive correlation between upstreamness and trade credit, we find the correlation is insignificant when we control for competition among suppliers and the bargaining power of customers. The correlation between firms’ upstreamness and trade credit is positive and significant only in Japan. In contrast, we find that the competition among suppliers and bargaining power of customers are positively and significantly correlated with trade credit in a robust manner. Because upstreamness and competition among suppliers are often positively correlated, our finding suggests the need to incorporate competition in the literature on trade credit and upstreamness.