Driven by the need to continuously improve the performance of industrial operations, the worldwide market for asset reliability software and services should experience growth that will outpace the automation market as a whole, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

Seventy percent of chief procurement officers (CPOs) say their suppliers do not provide sufficient innovation and value to their companies, according to a new survey by Consero Group, which creates invitation-only events for senior executives. The results were reported as part of the 2013 Global Procurement & Strategic Sourcing Data Survey.

Retailers looking to expand their business internationally might do well to consider selling online in China or Japan. Those two countries take first and second place, respectively, in a new index of the 30 best countries for online retailing from A.T. Kearney.

High-tech companies are making strategic shifts to their supply chain models to enable greater customer-centricity, meet changing consumer demand patterns and capture new growth opportunities, according to the 4th annual global UPS Change in the (Supply) Chain survey, conducted by IDC Manufacturing Insights.