This book is the product of a rigorous, robust and lengthy research project involving more than a dozen U.S and Canadian based EOC companies. What, indeed, do we mean by structures of grace ? First and foremost, the title reflects our conviction that EOC companies are indeed different. And that difference is centered on a conviction of the business as a set of relationships, or more accurately, a community, and the conviction that the purpose of economic activity the production and distribution of goods and services is to bring people together, to create community. For us, this is the defining characteristic of the EOC.