The long-term profitability of a supply chain is affected by strategic decision making tools like, determination of optimal network configuration, inventory management policies, supply contracts, distribution strategies, supply chain integration, outsourcing and procurement strategies, product design, and information technology. Strategic decision-makers are guided by comprehensive models for efficient decision-making which increases the profitability of the entire chain. This paper presents the guidelines for the methodology, and its development for the strategic modeling of single and multi-echelon supply chains.

The need for holistic modeling efforts that capture the extended supply chain enterprise at a strategic level has been clearly recognized first by the industry and recently, by the academia. Supply chain management—which treats individual businesses as supply chains, rather than solely autonomous enitities—represents one of the most significant paradigm shifts of modern business management. SCM, along with a number of other emerging areas in operations management, however, is still in its embryonic stage. The key reason for the inadequacy in satisfactorily addressing many practical real-world challenges is the interdependencies among its various operations, and the autonomous partners across the chain, which renders all traditional myopic models, are invalid (Iakovou, 2001; Tayur et al., 1999). The strategic decision-makers need comprehensive models to guide them in the decision-making process so as to increase the total profitability of the chain. The objective behind this search is

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