Big-name consulting firms dominate the market for supply chain services, according to a new analyst report. The research firm IDC of Framingham, Mass., estimates that the market for supply chain services, which includes software integration, implementation, and training, accounted for $23.1 billion in worldwide revenues for the year 2000.

Ten well-known consulting firms control a full 41 percent of that market. The number one firm on the list, based on revenue, was Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. The other leading firms, in descending order, were Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers, IBM Global Services, KPMG, Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), EDS, Deloitte Consulting, SAP Consulting, and Arthur Andersen.

Implementation and integration accounted for about 60 percent of the supply chain services market, according to the report. Consulting firms have made deep inroads into this market because they often bundle consulting services with IT implementation projects.

Indeed, the consulting firms that ranked in the top 10 all provide information technology services, says Ting Piper, program manager for IDC's Supply Chain and eLogistics Services. "Most of them were able to capture a market-leading position by adding emerging, high-growth, business-to-business e-commerce service capabilities to their core supply chain management capabilities."

IDC researchers expect that the top 10 players will get even stronger in the coming years as corporations embrace the concept of supply chain management. "During the next two to three years," says Piper, "we expect large and very large organizations to continue to streamline their supply chains and adopt collaborative commerce initiatives with their suppliers, distributors, contract manufacturers, logistics providers, and customers."