Very few books on supply chain management succeed as both an instructional vehicle for the student and a hands-on resource for the practitioner. Designing and Managing the Supply Chain is the happy exception. This collaboration between academia and the industry bridges that gap between the pedantic and the pragmatic. Each chapter presents a case study up front, replete with problems and challenges, then discusses the technology and decision-support tools that can be applied to the case example. By the end of the chapter, the students can address the issues raised in the cases effectively. That technique is repeated for a number of critical supply chain topics- logistics network design, inventory management, strategic alliances, international logistics, and the often overlooked supply chain/product design connection, to name a few. Especially valuable for readers without a strong technical background is the discussion on supply chain information technology and decision-support systems. -- Supply Chain Management Review, March/April 2000 Each chapter begins with a real-world case-study, then presents various technological-solutions...this book is essential for professionals and students alike. -- Business 2.0 December 2001 The book is an important contribution and major milestone for the supply chain community. It is the first book that covers a comprehensive breadth of supply chain topics in depth and addresses the major challenges in this area. -- Hau Lee, Stanford University The book was awarded: 1) The IIE Joint Publishers Book of the Year 2) The Outstanding IIE Publication Award -- Institute of Industrial Engineers, Year 2000 awards Winner of the Outstanding First Edition of the Year Award given in 2000 by McGraw-Hill/Irwin -- McGraw-Hill/Irwin Many companies are involved in the analysis of their supply chains. Most textbooks do not include models and decision support systems robust enough for industry. Designing and Managing the Supply Chain: Concepts, Strategies, and Cases discuss these problems, models and concepts at that appropriate level. While many core supply chain management issues are interrelated, the authors have tried, when possible, to make each chapter as self contained as possible, so that the reader can refer directly to chapters covering topics of interest. Each chapter utilizes case studies and numerous examples. Mathematical and technical sections can be skipped without loss of continuity. The book also contains two software packages, the Computerized Beer Game and the Risk Pool Game, which help illustrate many of the concepts discussed.