This book is the first among many books in supply chain management, which provides the readers with insights on how to select the best global supply chain out of inter-firm network, fables system or market firms. This process is clearly expounded in the book through case studies, which include Apple, Toyota, BMW, IKEA and Taiwan TSMC. The main editor, Prof Yasuhiro Monden, is the founding father of Lean Production Management who published Toyota Production System from IIE in 1983, which is called the classic of Lean System.

This book will explain how the global supply chain (GSC) could be organized by considering causal relationships of the stage differences in (1) market needs, (2) product design architecture, and (3) product life-cycle, for the purpose of reducing the total costs of GSC.