Everyone has strenths and weakness. For example:

British - Humor
German - Engineering
French - Food

You don't want:

British - Food
German - Humor
French - Engineering


Here are the "best" folks in the MTB world:

Shifting - SRAM
Cranks - Shimano, Trutativ(EXTERNAL bearings only)
Fork - Marzocci, Rock Shox
Bars/Post - Easton
Rubber - Panaracer, Hutchinson, WTB
Hubs - Shimano, Chris King, Swiss, Hugi
Rims- Mavic, Sun
Headset - Cane Creek, Chris King
Brakes - Avid, Hayes, Hope
Pedals - Crank Bros, Time