Top 25 Supply Chains

AMR Research recently released the 2008 version of the world’s top 25 supply chains. The intent of the research report is to identify demand-driven leaders. AMR research defines those leaders as those companies that come closest to the Demand-Driven Supply Network (DDSN) Level 4 (Orchestrator) description.

The rankings for the top 25 are based on three main components:

There are three components that make up the composite score for the company and determine its ranking. The first component of the ranking is publicly available financial data, which is weighted at 60% of the total score. The second component of the ranking is an AMR Research Opinion, which is weighted at 20% of the total score. The AMR Research voting panel consists of both industry and functional analysts. The third component is a Peer Opinion Panel, which is weighted at 20% of the total score and comprises supply chain professionals across manufacturing and retail businesses.

In reviewing the rankings for 2008, the largest item that stuck out to me was the resurgence of Dell as a major supply chain player. The reason for the surprise was because Dell was conspicuously absent from the 2007 top 25 list. Apple took over the top spot from Nokia which fell to number two. The only company to fall out of the top 10 was Cisco, which dropped to number 11.