Grand strategy is the business policy used by a nexus firm-the leading concern in a supply chain-whose suppliers and distributors work alongside it to manufacture and distribute its products. This grand strategy helps the nexus marshal other companies into a formation, a supply chain in which the processes of independent firms are managed across their respective boundaries. A vertical grand strategy reworks the trans-action cost theory and applies it to the creation of cost-optimal supply chains. The horizontal grand strategy applies micro-economics to construct a competition strategy, which is employed at the end-user markets of a supply chain. In brief, this book pioneers the grand strategy of the supply chain. While it is written for managers who want to improve the competiti-veness of their supply chains, it is also of substantial value to scholars since it combines economic theories with management learning to create a "science of business.""