Monster Moto, a producer of economically priced off-road vehicles, shifts from offshore production to domestic assembly, a move made possible by cutting its transportation and logistics expense.

Analyst Insight: International and domestic air cargo transportation services have shown tepid signs of recovery in the years following the recession, with estimated average price growth of only 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent each year from 2013 to 2016, respectively. While weak demand growth for shipping services and falling capacity utilization have cut into revenue and profit margins for the market's suppliers, the outlook for airfreight carriers is not quite as bleak as it is for other global shippers. - Ashley Cruz, Procurement Research Analyst, IBISWorld Inc.

China's textile industry is a world beater, accounting for over 60 percent of world chemical and synthetic fiber production. Cotton production is lower, but still large, at over 20 percent of the global total, ranking only behind India in 2016. The trend, however, is downwards as China is caught between rising domestic costs, persistent technical and distribution advantages elsewhere.

GPS technology can tell a commercial trucker all about routes and traffic conditions. But when it comes to predicting the regulatory landscape, the road ahead is a lot less clear.

It's tough enough stopping the use of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. How about attacking the larger issue of human trafficking throughout the supply chain?