This article investigates a growing desire by companies to better manage the financing of the global Management Action supply chain and explores best practices. Supply‐chain managers and finance or treasury managers, however, live in different worlds, and integration does not come easily. The article argues that decentralized finance functions lead to financial inefficiencies. The authors identify five subarchitectures to competitive supply chains and argue that visualizing the supply chain financially is the first step to controlling and improving it. Finance is embedded in every step of the supply chain — and business model. Management guidelines of what to change, what to eliminate, and what to adapt are presented along with the new starting points of strategy and customers' ever‐changing needs. Consequently, the end game is profit maximization rather than only cost minimization, and both within acceptable risk parameters. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This paper analyses the short‐term, demand‐side effects of a large natural gas investment programme currently being implemented in Saudi Arabia using input–output analysis. Saudi Arabia opened gas exploration and production projects to national and international companies in order to attract substantial new investment in the exploration and production of gas non‐associated with oil output. The expected additional gas production is intended for domestic use, thus freeing for export some of the oil that is currently being used to supply domestic energy. Increased oil exports would generate additional foreign exchange income to help fund further diversification of the Saudi economy. The primary outcome of the input–output analysis shows that the strongest positive impact would be realised by the Saudi construction and manufacturing sectors and that a great deal of the equipment needed for increased gas production would have to be imported. A shortage of educated Saudis may curtail success or require use of more foreign skilled expatriates. So far, Saudi Arabia is having significant difficulties finding and expanding the output of non‐associated gas.

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