Amazon Takes World's Best Supply Chain Title in Gartner survey
BY Will Green
Online retailer Amazon has been named number one in the Gartner global top 25 supply chain ranking.
McDonald’s is in the number two spot, followed by Unilever and Intel, while fashion retailer Inditex, whose brands include Zara, enters the top five for the first time.
Apple, which has been number one for seven years, has been moved into a new “supply chain masters” category, along with P&G.
Three companies have rejoined the list “after a lengthy hiatus”, with L’Oréal at number 22, Toyota at 24 and Home Depot at 25.
Stan Aronow, research vice president at Gartner, said: “In this edition of the Supply Chain Top 25 ranking we have several long-time leaders with new lessons to share and a number of more recent entrants from the high tech, consumer products, retail and industrial sectors.”
Aronow said Apple and P&G had made “major contributions to the supply chain profession over the years”, with P&G “one of the first to characterise and embed the concept of a consumer-driven supply chain”. He said Apple was “defining the very notion of a solution supply chain, blazed new trails with its demand creation capabilities”.
“This year we are introducing a brand new category to highlight the accomplishments and capabilities of long-term leaders,” he said.
“We are, therefore, recognising those companies that have consistently had top five composite scores for at least seven out of the last 10 years and placing them into a masters category, separate from the overall Supply Chain Top 25 list.”
The ranking, of firms from the manufacturing, retail and distribution sectors with revenues of at least $12 billion (£7.6 billion), is based on a combination of factors including peer opinion, return on assets, inventory turns and revenue growth.
The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 for 2015:
1. Amazon
2. McDonald’s
3. Unilever
4. Intel
5. Inditex
6. Cisco Systems
7. H&M
8. Samsung Electronics
9. Colgate-Palmolive
10. Nike
11. Coca-Cola
12. Starbucks
13. Walmart
14. 3M
15. PepsiCo
16. Seagate Technology
17. Nestlé
18. Lenovo Group
19. Qualcomm
20. Kimberly-Clark
21. Johnson & Johnson
22. L’Oréal
23. Cummins
24. Toyota Motor
25. Home Depot