Gartner Group’s ideal supply chain firm efficiently and effectively coordinates all functional areas to develop, obtain
resources for, and provide products in response to customer preferences and needs, increasing the firm’s value through
excellent demand-driven execution of all supply chain operations www.gartner.com/technology/supply-chain/top25_
methodology.jsp. Consistent with Mentzer et al.(2001), the current research proposes that firms recognized by peers and
industry experts as top performers on the DDSNI are exhibiting the supply chain oriented managerial mindset that is an integral part of SCM competency. The symbiotic nature of SCO and SCM proposed by Mentzer et al., further suggests that firms perceived by their peers and industry experts to be performing effectively on the multiple DDSNI SCM competency characteristics shown in Appendix 1 (Table AI) have high SCOs in order to be able to do so. This rationale is supported by the ongoing stream of descriptive case studies about SCM top performer firms authored by Gartner Supply Chain Group industry experts and posted on their web site. Our argument is also consistent with Prahalad and Hamel’s (1990) contention that firm competencies are developed to a greater or lesser extent depending on their fit with the firm’s overarching strategic architecture and with Stank et al.’s (2005) assertion that how firms choose to coordinate processes is predicated by their strategic orientations.