When President Barack Obama said last September that he would get tough on companies that avoid tax through "inversions" - merging with or buying foreign firms so as to shift their domicile abroad - some wondered if this would end a wave of corporate emigration.

For most of the past three decades, private equity firms and other investors have relied on two simple questions to assess the supply chains of the companies in which they've invested: Are our companies leveraging low-cost country supply sources and are they keeping supply chain costs in check? Deeper inquiries have always seemed unnecessary, so private equity firms and investors have focused on other aspects of the businesses they own to drive value.

While cash remains king at the point-of-sale, a variety of other digital payment methods are preferred by consumers, with 25 percent of all smartphone owners now using mobile wallets.

The lure of low interest rates: how could it possibly be a bad thing for business?

Sanjiv Sidhu, founder and chairman of o9 Solutions (and co-founder of i2 Technologies), offers his view of how supply-chain I.T. has changed over the past 15 years, and what businesses need to do now in order to face the growing uncertainty that's attached to global supply-chain management.

A few years ago, the OECD embarked on a multiyear effort to create an international tax framework that closes perceived gaps in international tax rules. This includes combating base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) to ensure companies pay their "fair share" of taxes. Many of the BEPS Project's action items are expected to be finalized later this year.