With a tentative agreement in place between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the 7-month-long West Coast port crisis has come to an end. What comes next is the final body count - what percentage of GDP shrank because of the slowdown? What was the impact on the trade deficit? Who got hit hardest, and just how hard? Then what? There may be a collective sigh of relief in the air, but can things really go back to normal? Should they?

The top five events causing disruption to supply chains in 2014 were Typhoon Halong in western Japan with a revenue impact of more than $10bn, severe flooding in Long Island, New York, with a revenue impact of more than $4bn, Typhoon Rammasun in China and Vietnam, which caused a revenue impact exceeding $1.5bn, the Taiwan gas explosions and their $900m impact, and the Intel hazardous chemical spill in Arizona, which also had a revenue impact that topped $900m.

In 2014, organizations were caught off guard by the increase in advanced threats targeting vulnerabilities within business-critical applications running on SAP platforms. Everything from malware being loaded up on RFID devices and being inserted into the manufacturing process, to high-risk "denial of service" vulnerabilities are challenging organizations to re-think their current approach to protecting critical data.

Analyst Insight: Companies today face a wide range of security risks to their supply chains as well as to their sources of supply. In order to overcome vulnerabilities, they should have a deep understanding of their internal and external supply chains, and be able to quantify the likelihood and impact of security threats. – Glen Goldbach, Director, and Kelvin Harris, Director, PwC's Advisory Practice

A company's reputation rests on much more than the quality of the products that it makes.

Roughly seven months into the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports slowdown with, unfortunately, no end in sight, and manufacturers in just about every industry, from electronics to home goods, are feeling the pain.

Lack of preparation leaves supply chains in Brazil, China, India and the United States more vulnerable to climate risks than those in Europe and Japan, according to research released by CDP and Accenture. However, suppliers in China and India deliver the greatest financial return on investment to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrate the strongest appetite for collaboration across the value chain.

Attacks against small tankers off South East Asia's coasts caused a rise in global ship hijackings, up to 21 in 2014 from 12 in 2013, despite piracy at sea falling to its lowest level in eight years, the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has revealed. Pirates took 442 crew members hostage, compared with 304 in 2013.