A primary goal of the Supply Chain Top 25 research initiative is to raise awareness of the supply chain discipline and how it impacts the business, says Stan Aronow, Gartner research director.  Analysts announced the findings from this year's research at the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference, held in Phoenix.

"2014 marks the 10th year of our annual Supply Chain Top 25 ranking," says Aronow. "As we reach this milestone, we have several longtime leaders with new lessons to share and a number of more recent entrants from the high-tech, consumer product and industrial sectors in the Top 25."

The top five-ranked organizations in 2014 include four that topped the list last year — Apple, McDonald's, Amazon and Unilever — plus another familiar leader, P&G. Two new companies joined the Top 25 this year with Seagate Technology (No. 20) appearing for the first time and Kimberly-Clark (No. 21) re-emerging after a year's hiatus.

In taking the No. 1 slot again, Apple continues to outpace everyone else by a wide margin on the composite of financial and opinion measures used. McDonald's landed at No. 2 for the second year in a row.

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