Hosseinzadeh Lotfi, F.Allahviranloo, T.Shafiee, M.Saleh, H.2024-05-192024-05-1920232197-6503https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28247-8_1https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12713/4443Supply chain management is an integral part of companies and organizations and is essential for the success of any company or organization and customer satisfaction. Considering the importance of this issue, in this chapter, first, the general and basic concepts of supply chain management, which include; The evolutionary course of supply chain management, different definitions of supply chain management, the reasons, and importance of the need for supply chain management, the components and goals, and functional areas and principles of supply chain management, process models related to the concept of supply chain management and its decision-making steps are discussed. And then, the idea of strategic supply chain management and the role of strategic thinking in supply chain management are discussed. Also, the role of the supply chain as a strategic asset and vital strategic elements in the supply chain, the necessary criteria for having a suitable strategy in supply chain management, and how to start turning the supply chain into a strategic asset and its benefits are discussed. Moreover, the structure of the supply chain network, how to identify its members, and the structural dimensions of the supply chain network are described. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessCustomer SatisfactionDecision MakingBasic ConceptsCustomers' SatisfactionDecisions MakingsFunctional AreasIntegral PartManagement IsManagement ProcessProcess-ModelsStrategic ThinkingSupply Chain NetworkSupply Chain ManagementBook Chapter1221462-s2.0-8515808631210.1007/978-3-031-28247-8_1N/A