As promised then, this week I’ll do my best to explain the methodology Gartner used to rank the companies for 2026, which does include some changes from the previous year. Let’s take a look, starting with what types of companies can be considered for the Top 25.
--A strict minimum revenue threshold of $15 billion is required.Companies must maintain a minimum ESG threshold, according to S&P Global ESG scores.
--Companies must have publicly available, audited financial results in S&P Capital IQ for a minimum of four years. This automatically excludes most private companies and subsidiaries.
--Pure service industries, such as banking, that do not operate physical supply chains heavy service companies are evaluated if they maintain more than $1 billion in physical inventory. This provision, by the way, is what allows software company Microsoft to make the list.
Gilmore Says.... |
 About the only thing you can do to impact the results is to brief Gartner analysts on your supply chain prowess and hopefully raise your Gartner expert opinion score.
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For 2026, the industry inclusion criteria have significantly evolved, following community feedback:
Integrated oil and gas companies: Previously excluded due to intense commodity price swings, integrated oil and gas companies as classified in the The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS hierarchical system) were included this year. With revenue growth weighting factor reduced and three-year averages applied, the volatility impact is mathematically minimized.
Electronic manufacturing services (EMS): Formerly classified as a service industry and excluded, EMS companies are now evaluated using the exact same criteria as other asset-heavy service organizations, provided they hold greater than $1 billion in physical inventory.
I do not believe any companies in these two sectors made the list in 2026.
If you qualify, the scores are calculated as follows:
Community Opinion (50%)
The qualitative element provides a crucial forward-looking perspective on supply chain leadership, innovation, and maturity. It is split equally between two voting panels:
Peer opinion (25%): Supply chain community peers select and rank their top 25 companies.
Gartner expert opinion (25%): Internal Gartner supply chain experts select and rank their top 25 companies.
Peer and expert points are assigned based on the rank a company receives (first to 25th). The totals for each company are normalized. The company with the highest score in a respective panel receives a 10, scaling down to zero. For 2026, voters benefit from process enhancements, including the ability to expand selections to assess multiple industries simultaneously and hover over company names to immediately access some publicly available company information.
Financial Performance (30%)
For 2026, Gartner updated the financial methodology to better reflect supply chain impact, balance the weighting across business outcomes and minimize cross-industry variations. The financial metrics continue a transition away from absolute values toward relative improvement metrics:
Fixed asset utilization (10%): Return on physical assets (ROPA) has been entirely removed. The 10% weighting is now based solely on change in ROPA, calculated over a three-year weighted period (50% Year 1, 30% Year 2, 20% Year 3) to accurately accommodate midterm investment cycles.
Working capital utilization (10%): Inventory turns have been replaced by Inventory as a Percentage of Revenue. This metric offers the simplest, most comprehensive measure of inventory value on the balance sheet and reduces cross-industry variations commonly seen with traditional inventory turns. It is calculated for the current year only (not a three-year weighted average) as in the past.
Profitable growth (10%): Revenue growth weighting is reduced from 10% to 5%. To better capture the supply chain's strategic role in maintaining business margins, Change in Gross Margin Percentage is introduced with a 5% weighting, also calculated over a three-year weighted average.
To calculate financial scores, a new normalization process replaces the previous methodology that simply capped negative growth at zero. Financial criteria now utilize a robust 2-Sigma approach: Companies performing at or above two standard deviations above the mean receive the full 10 points, those at or below two standard deviations below receive 0 points, and the intermediate companies are normalized between 0 and 10.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Performance (20%)
 The ESG methodology continues to evaluate supply chain ESG leadership in the areas of commitment, transparency, and performance utilizing trusted third-party data. The scoring remains unchanged for 2026 as Gartner continues to monitor global regulatory reporting frameworks (such as the EU CSRD and California's Climate Accountability Act). Prior year data was used where needed.
The 10 ESG points available translate directly to a 10-point scale:
--Commitment (2%): United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) signatory.
--Transparency (2%): Reporting "in accordance with" Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards.
--Environmental performance (6%): CDP Climate Change Score of A or A- (2%), CDP Water
--Security or Forest Score of A or A- (2%), and "Validated" Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) --Near-Term Targets (2%).
--Social performance (6%): Awarded EcoVadis Medals (4%) and performing above the S&P Global ESG Social score threshold (2%).
--Governance performance (4%) Performing above S&P Global ESG Governance thresholds (4%).
Mentioned above, the changes from 2025 are as follows:
--Evolution of financial metrics: ROPA and inventory turns have been removed. Change in gross margin percentage and inventory as a percentage of revenue were added to improve cross-industry comparisons and accurately reflect supply chain impacts on business outcomes.
--Refined company inclusion criteria: Adjustments allow the inclusion of integrated oil and gas companies and electronic manufacturing services, ensuring a diverse and comprehensive representation of physical supply chains.
--Enhancements to the community opinion process: The peer voting experience is improved with added publicly available company information and multi-industry selection capabilities.
--Future ESG outlook: Current ESG criteria using trusted third-party data remain intact for 2026, with planned evolutions slated for the 2027 ranking cycle.
There you have it, the Top 25 methodology for 2026.
About the only thing you can do to impact the results is to brief Gartner analysts on your supply chain prowess and hopefully raise your Gartner expert opinion score.
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