Handfield (business management, North Carolina State U.) offers supply- chain executives a guide for leading their organizations to supply- chain maturity using an integrated approach based on solid market intelligence. Following an introductory overview, coverage includes opportunity identification and validation, establishing the team, creating internal business intelligence, developing business intelligence and market intelligence, developing external supply market intelligence, supplier evaluation, developing and executing sourcing strategy, strategic supplier relationships, redesigning the organization, and benchmarking. The concepts were developed from conversations with executives of several industries, including Suncor Energy, Bank of America, Shell Oil, Honda of America, General Motors, Boston Scientific, Visteon, Federal Express, Sonoco, Duke Energy, Caterpillar, and John Deere; best practices and case studies from these companies are included in the text. Distributed in the U.S. by CRC. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)