At the heart of the textbook is the concept of , defined as the difference between the value the final product has for the customer and the total cost incurred across all supply chain stages. The primary goal for any manager is to maximize this net value through three key decision phases:

Chopra stresses that sourcing decisions must look beyond the purchase price. TCO includes acquisition costs, ownership costs (inventory, quality control), and post-ownership costs (warranty, environmental disposal).

Would you like a of the 7th edition’s chapters (all 16) so you can build your own high-quality PPT, or a summary of the most important case studies (e.g., Zara, Seven-Eleven Japan, Amazon, CEMEX) from the book?