Boeing's net income dropped precipitously from the more than $4 billion it earned in 2007, to nearly $2.7 billion in 2008 and $1.3 billion in 2009, before partially recovering to $3.3 billion in 2010. Its stock price peaked at nearly $105 in late August 2007, but hasn't traded above $76 in the past 52 weeks. Shares of PolyOne, in contrast, are trading at or near all-time highs above $14, after dipping under $2 in January 2009.

An Apple for the Chain Managers

The correlation between supply chain performance and financial/equity returns is no coincidence, according to Gartner, which in 2009 acquired Boston-based AMR Research, publisher of its annual rankings since 2004. Shares in companies named to the list for supply chain excellence have consistently outperformed the major stock indices, and it's no surprise that Wall Street juggernaut Apple has topped the rankings for three years running.

"Evidence of the link between supply chain activities and financial results continues to build," wrote Gartner's Hofman and Kevin O'Marah, who has led AMR's Global Supply Chain research since 2000, in the 2010 Supply Chain Top 25 report. Hofman and O'Marah cite a study by Dr. Alex Ellinger and a team at the University of Alabama and Texas A&M who found that the the Supply Chain Top 25 companies are more financially successful than their competitors.

"We in the supply chain business intuitively believe that being good at supply chain management has a positive impact on bottom-line financial performance," they wrote, "but there have been few objective, large-scale studies that support that belief."