Who has the best supply chain in the world? According to AMR Research, that honor goes to mobile phone supplier Nokia with Apple, another maker of digital gadgets, not far behind.

AMR recently published its third-annual Supply Chain Top 25 with Nokia, Apple, Proctor & Gamble, IBM and Toyota Motor leading the list.

AMR draws its list of candidates for the Supply Chain Top 25 from the Global Fortune 500. The research firm then ranks the companies using roughly the following scorecard:

• return on assets (25%)
• inventory turns (25%)
• revenue growth (10%)

• peer opinion panel (20%)
• AMR Research panel (20%)

According to AMR’s chief strategy officer Kevin O’Marah, Nokia stands out as a company that knows how to collaborate. The company works well with its suppliers and customers and is eager to learn from their best practices.

Nokia typically lands among AMR’s top supply chain companies. The big surprise this year, says O’Marah, was Apple.

Apple—creator of the iPod and the Macintosh computer—was eligible for the first time this year with revenue that placed it in the Fortune 500. But how did a company with a reputation for poor forecasting and in-stock performance debut at No. 2?

“Apple’s inventory turns are 50.8, which is staggeringly high,” says O’Marah. Of course, he explains, $2 billion of Apple’s sales in 2006 were from digital downloads from iTunes, which are zero-inventory products.

According to the report accompanying the rankings, the lesson supply chain professionals should learn from Apple is that product design and innovation matter. Rather than focusing on low cost, Apple relies on brilliant marketing and industrial design to create demand for its products.

The report sums up the company’s performance this way: “Apple’s unparalleled demand-shaping capability lets its supply chain record spectacular results without sweating costs like everyone else.”