Tata Motors only Indian business in Gartner’s top 15 supply chain companies in Asia Pacific region

Tata Motors is the only Indian company among the top 15 supply chain companies in Asia Pacific in research firm Gartner's annual ranking of the top supply chain organisations in the Asia Pacific region.

Tata Motors, which ranked third, had earlier also been voted the most trustworthy Indian corporate group for the third time in a row in a recent poll conducted by Equitymaster.

Gartner yesterday revealed the rankings at its annual at its Supply Chain Executive Conference currently underway in Sydney, Australia.

The research firm said that the goal of the annual Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 research initiative is to raise awareness of the supply chain discipline and how it impacts business results.

From the overall list of qualifying organisations, Gartner identified the top 15 performers headquartered in Asia Pacific, based on revenue growth, return on assets (ROA), inventory and peer opinion.

Of the top 15 supply chain companies from the Asia Pacific region, five are from Japan - Canon, Honda, Komatsu, Seven&I Holdings and Toyota, four from Korea - Hyundai, Hyundai Heavy Industries, LG and Samsung, two from China - Huawei  and Lenovo, and Australia's Woolworths, India's Tata Motors, Singapore's Flextronics and Taiwan's ASUSTeK.

''While demand in Asia Pacific is growing, inflation, rising costs and a tightening labour market pose challenges for companies in the region,'' said Vikas Sarangdhar, research director at Gartner. ''Economic challenges in the rest of the world also amplify the risks, as a further sharp fall in exports to advanced economies and capital outflows would impact Asia both directly and through knock-on effects on domestic demand.''

Samsung still leads the Top 15 in Asia Pacific which is dominated by high tech, consumer electronics, automotive, retail and industrial products companies. Four companies entered the Asia Pacific listing for the first time in 2012. Gartner said that most Japanese companies are still recovering from the natural and economic crisis of 2011, but these companies are now regaining their stability.

Gartner said that several supply chain leaders from this region did not make it into the Top 15 list this year because they did not receive enough votes, like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Wilmar International and Wesfarmers.

According to Gartner research director Debashis Tarafdar, Asia Pacific supply chain leaders have maintained momentum in the difficult economic environment by re-configuring their supply chains while staying focused on a demand-driven strategy.

''Companies leading the top supply chains in Asia Pacific have demonstrated capabilities in demand management, operational excellence and innovation,'' said Tarafdar. ''They are using best practices including demand sensing and shaping, segmentation and collaboration, to help manage demand volatility and deliver predictable results. To measure supply chain performance, they select the right metrics that are aligned to the company's overall business objectives. They also build resiliency into supply network design, and implement risk management strategies across trading partner networks.''

The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25, now published for eight years, uses a methodology that comprises two main components, financial and opinion. Public financial data provides a view into how companies have performed in the past, while the opinion component offers insight into the supply chain leadership of the future.

These two components are combined into a total composite score for each company considered. The Asia Pacific list of companies is derived from a combination of sources, including the Fortune Global 500 and the Forbes Global 2000, with a revenue cutoff of $10 billion. The list is then pared down to the manufacturing, retail and distribution sectors to eliminate certain industries, such as financial services and insurance, that do not have physical supply chains.

The 2012 Gartner Supply Chain Top 25:  Asia Pacific